Although considered a box office failure upon its original release, Labyrinth has since become a cult film with a large and dedicated following. This page will focus on the development of the Labyrinth fandom, and will feature insights into common-place views held in fandom on the film's characters and events.
Development of the fandom[]
Despite earning back less than half its budget at the box office, Labyrinth later became a success of home video and through screenings on the Disney Channel in the early 1990s.
An annual masquerade ball inspired by the film and named the Labyrinth of Jareth began in 1997 and has been held every year since then.
Realising the success of the film on home video and DVD in the early 2000s, Sony Pictures asked The Jim Henson Company to produce a film similar to it. Since LucasFilm partially owned the copyright to the film, a direct sequel could not be produced so instead Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean were approached to produce a film with a similar atmosphere that would appeal to the same audience. The resulting film, Mirrormask, received a limited theatrical release in the U.S in 2005 after being premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
By the 2000s, the film's popularity became widespread, and many fansites, fan communities, and fanfic archives continue to be active.
Fanfiction[]
Fanfiction.net is the largest host of fan-written Labyrinth stories on the internet, and as of 12 November 2011 it holds over 7000 stories in its Labyrinth section. There are a range of other fanfiction archives on the internet, including an archive held at Archive of our Own that hosts 155 stories and a Labyrinth specific archive called Underground that is home to 86 stories.