Miranda Otto (“The Lord of the Rings”), Chris Pang (“Crazy Rich Asians”), Jessica De Gouw (“Gretel & Hansel”), and Sam Neill’s “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” and “Thor: Ragnarok” co-star, Rachel House, round out the cast for “The Portable Door,” which is described as follows in the press release issued on the Jim Henson Company’s official website:
The movie centers on Paul Carpenter (Patrick Gibson) and Sophie Pettingel (Sophie Wilde), lowly, put-upon interns who begin working at the mysterious London firm J.W. Wells & Co., and become increasingly aware that their employers are anything but conventional. Charismatic villains Humphrey Wells (Christoph Waltz), the CEO of the company, and middle manager Dennis Tanner (Sam Neill) are disrupting the world of magic by bringing modern corporate strategy to ancient magical practices, and Paul and Sophie discover the true agenda of the vast corporation.
Personally, the movie’s blend of fantasy and social satire, combined with the involvement of the Jim Henson Company, is enough to pique my interest in what’s clearly being set up to serve as the start of a potential franchise for MGM+. The House That Henson Built has done a fine job of keeping its founder’s spirit alive over the years, creating the wonderful “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance” for Netflix (no, I’m not going to stop beating the drum for that show anytime soon) and joining forces with Guillermo del Toro on his and Mark Gustafson’s stupendous stop-motion animated “Pinocchio” movie, on top of successfully reviving “Fraggle Rock” with the critically-acclaimed series “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock” on Apple TV+. Heck, I might even pony up for an MGM+ subscription to check out “The Portable Door” … maybe.
“The Portable Door” will begin streaming on MGM+ in April 2023.