The Jim Henson Company is most famous for its Muppets, but it’s always been interested in original properties like The Dark Crystal franchise and Fraggle Rock. Now, it’s investing in yet another new property, and it sounds like a lot of fun.
The Portable Door, based on a series of satirical fantasy novels by Tom Holt, is being promised as a droll spin on magic tropes, with CEO Lisa Henson praising the project’s “relatable, gritty humor made popular in shows like The Office, and its rich, Harry Potter-like, high-fantasy setting.” Well, The Office meets Harry Potter definitely has promise.
In the novels, an entry-level cog in the London corporate firm J.W. Well & Co. slowly pieces together that his new company is actually in the magic business, and his bosses have some not entirely benign plans to modernize the wizarding community.
In addition to the Jim Henson Company — one of the closest things we’ve got to real-life magic in our world — The Portable Door is already putting together some real talent to bring the story to life. Christoph Waltz is on board as the villainous CEO, Guy Richie is a middle management-beleaguered “shape-shifting goblin” and The OA‘s Patrick Gibson will star as our hero.
The movie is in pre-production at the moment, but we’ll keep an eye out for a release date.
