A friend of mine recently told me that his then toddler daughter had to be forcibly removed from the cinema - she loved Labyrinth so much, she was expecting more.

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I remember my mother telling me I couldn't see it at the cinema because it was 'too scary' when I pointed to a newspaper add for the film .
I eventually got to see it when it showed on British TV during the Christmas of 1989.
Funnily enough, it was a 'U' certificate film, and when it was premiered on TV it showed at about 3pm Christmas Eve on BBC1, a slot that was guaranteed to get a large family audience, so I don't know what my mother was thinking when she said it was 'too scary'.
My 18-month-old nephew was even watching it a couple of weeks ago, and he was entranced rather than frightened.

I'm 68 and took my son (then aged four or five) to see it. I thought it was great. Still do.

I was 4 yrs old

I was five when this movie came to theaters. My parents never took me to see it. I finally got to watch in on VHS years later.

Because I was already an adult, and my interest in the general direction of puppets and monsters in those times was better served by the likes of "Little Shop Of Horrors" and "Aliens"
Same here. I was at university when it was released, and didn't even hear about it until HBO started showing it. I still didn't watch it, thinking it was for little kids. At that time, "Big," "The Lost Boys," "Aliens" and almost every Steve Martin movie were my usual picks.
I've always been a Bowie fan, but I prefer his earlier work; by 1986, he was well into the disco phase, and I was into metal.
Btw, I'm about to give Labyrinth a try right now. This thread has convinced me, though the first 5 minutes were not gripping.
Bored now

Because I was already an adult, and my interest in the general direction of
puppets and monsters
in those times was better served by the likes of "Little Shop Of Horrors" and "Aliens"
Even my old favourite Bowie had been going too mainstream for my tastes for a good few years by then (obviously he would come back with the goods much later, but that's another story), so after reading some reviews about "Labyrinth" being more of a teens' movie, I preferred to save my meagre student's money for potentially more interesting films.

I DID see it in the theater. As a member of the Star Wars fan club, I was well aware of this one and also Howard the Duck (which I also went to see). Both movies were promoted in the monthly newsletter (Bantha Tracks), since they were Lucasfilm properties.

Thanks.

Back in '86, I was roughly 3 (going on 4) when the movie came out. My parents lived in a house on my dad's family acres and at the time, it was in the middle of nowhere surrounded by orchards and a few neighbors. There wasn't a close movie theater, so whenever a movie came out, it had to interest both my mom and dad in order to get them to drive all the way to the theater and pay for tickets. Sadly, Labyrinth wasn't a movie my dad was interested in seeing. So my mom had to wait until it was released on VHS to watch it with me.
So that's why my mom and I never had the chance the see it in theaters.
Why do you think it didn't become popular until the video and later DVD release?
I'm not too sure actually. The only theory I can come up with is that maybe the movie was marketed towards children 13 and under, and parents didn't want to take their kids to see it for whatever reason. Could have been David Bowie's sexiness? Could have been they thought David Bowie was the love interest of Jennifer Connelly and thought it was inappropriate? Could have been they wanted to spend their money on another movie that came out around the same time? That's all I can think of. Which sucks, cause the movie is awesome.

Be Seeing You.

I've watched it (3 times) at the theater when it came out. I loved it right away.
They've played it here in morning hours (maybe closer to noon and it was pure magic for me.
Im really surprised reading that it was a "flop" and all the bad reviews from way back. Critics are worthless.
If you don't get it right, what's the point?

For which? Labryrinth? It wasn't particularly packed. We are matinee people. Except for all the drive-in movies I saw as a kid.
Why did the white bear dissolve in water?
Because he was polar!

Was your theater packed? Do you remember if there was some sort of promotion?

I was in my teens and saw both Labyrinth and Dark Crystal in the theater. Loved 'em then and got 'em on DVD when they came out. I've shared them with my 11 year old and she loves 'em too.
I think they just hadn't 'found' the fantasy audience at that time. It was out there, playing DnD, 'hack' and reading LotR obsessively.
I was there for Bowie anyway. :^D I'm also a Monty Python freak so the Terry Jones script made me very happy.
I came from movie buffs, so we saw everything when I was a kid. I even saw Jaws and I couldn't have been more than six years old.
Why did the white bear dissolve in water?
Because he was polar!

To answer your question, I live in a small town in Ohio, but, VERY well known in the gambling community, since, this town, and our neighboring town, are the only 2 high schools, to have a football game, that is legally posted in both Vegas & Reno, to be bet on, when the 2 schools teams go head-to-head, towards the end of the football game time!

Interesting. The movie didn't perform well on the box office and the theatrical run was short. I've always wondered why. Where are you from?

I did and I remember it well. The theatre was packed and we had to sit in the second row. The girl behind us dumped a coke over my sisters head for some reason. She got kicked out and my sister had to sit there with sticky hair. But apart from that we loved it!

Italy! Bowie fans abound here.

Interesting. The movie didn't perform well on the box office and the theatrical run was short. I've always wondered why. Where are you from?

Huh? In 1986 I was 17, I went because of Bowie, and you couldn't swing a cat in the theatre for all the Bowie fans. None of us remotely cared about the movie itself, but we did pay for entry!
(Well, I also went to
Absolute Beginners
because of Bowie urghhh)

Maybe because we either could not afford it, or, it just did not show in theaters around their area(Mainly mine, for sure, or my dad would have taken me.), and my dad, who is a Vietnam Vet, loved this movie, as well, which, he does NOT like cartoons, so, that in itself should tell you, how great a movie this really was, and same goes for "The Dark Crystal"!

I saw it in the theatre & I LOVED it! I thought it was so cool and so did my friends & family. I don't remember it being unpopular at the time - mildly popular - not a blockbuster, but not a dud.
When this was released, I was about 15 years old.

Be excellent to each other!

I was newly married, almost 22, and my husband and I saw it with another couple because we were all Muppet Show and Jim Henson fanatics! The movie did not disappoint us either. It's still one of my top 5 favorites! I think at the time it was not marketed to its full potential. And the Muppets were only big with a select few. Before ComicCon became really big and mainstream. My group was ahead of their time in the 80s.