Christoph Waltz And Sam Neill's Fantasy-Adventure Comedy, The Portable Door, Coming To MGM+
Amidst all the hullabaloo about Showtime merging with Paramount+ and the continuing revival of older shows that nobody asked to be revived, you would be forgiven for missing that the Epix streaming platform formally rebranded as MGM+ on January 15, 2023. Cue the GIF of Korath the Pursuer (Djimon Honsou) in "Guardians of the Galaxy" saying, "Who?"
Epix, for those not familiar, launched in the late 2000s and housed shows such as the Forest Whitaker-led crime drama "Godfather of Harlem" and the Stephen King adaptation "Chapelwaite" prior to its rebranding being announced in the wake of Amazon's $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM's vast collection of films and TV shows. Epix was also the original home of the since-canceled DC comic book TV series "Pennyworth," which moved to HBO Max for its third season under the gloriously cumbersome new title, "Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman's Butler." Now that it's officially been rebranded, the streamer is hoping to make a bigger name for itself with a smattering of fresh exclusives, including the Jim Henson Company-backed fantasy-adventure comedy film, "The Portable Door."
Adapted from author Tom Holt's book series of the same name, "The Portable Door" features a cast led by Sam Neill (star of "The Piano," "Hunt for the Wilderpeople," and some obscure movie about dinosaurs) and Christoph Waltz (star of "Water for Elephants," "The Legend of Tarzan," and a few other things, apparently), along with Patrick Gibson ("The OA," "Shadow and Bone") and Sophie Wilde ("Eden," "You Don't Know Me"). Australian director Jeffrey Walker, who's probably best known here in the U.S. for his work on sitcoms like "Difficult People" and "Modern Family," called the shots on the film, drawing from a script by Leon Ford ("Griff the Invisible").
The start of a magical new franchise (maybe)
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.