Already a hit on release in 1985, family adventure film The Goonies since has amassed a large cult fanbase, who are often heard clamouring for a sequel – and they’ll be somewhat sated with the news that the film’s director, Richard Donner, is planning an immersive theatrical version of the film off-Broadway.

In an interview with Yahoo Movies, Donner said:

We’re going to do an off-Broadway [show] – do you know what immersion theatre is? Where there’s no seats, the venue is you go into a warehouse and there’s something happening in that warehouse and that’s the play you’ve come to see, only you become part of it and you travel through with actors. It’s very popular now. We’re doing one on The Goonies. It will take another year or so but it’s going to be wonderful.

The announcement follows the success in recent years of immersive theatre productions like Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More, as well as the popularity of interactive film events like Secret Cinema.

Donner told gossip website TMZ in 2014 that a sequel to the film was being planned with the original cast, but he is now being less forthright: “Maybe – again, everything takes a long time to get it right. If you do things fast and quick and easy, that’s a disservice. But if there were going to be another movie it would take us a long time to get it right, because we have a lot of history that we’re involved with and a lot of integrity that we have to keep to what once was, and lives a life of its own without destroying it. Maybe the powers that be are working on something.”

He also said that he wasn’t prepared for its success: “I didn’t feel that secure on that movie at all. It was a bizarre thing that you get so personally invested with these kids and this really well-written script, but it was like, besides these kids, who else is going to go see this movie? I’m making it for us.”