‘The Land Before Time’ Reboot Could Relaunch IP, Dethroning ‘Jurassic’ as the Biggest Dinosaur Franchise

The Land Before Time is being brought back from extinction.

While the beloved 1988 animated film The Land Before Time has remained untouched by official remakes for decades, a new fan-made project titled Littlefoot is showing what a modern-day revival could look like—and why it might be the franchise’s most pivotal moment since its original release.

Joey Lever, a British filmmaker known for 2014’s Spider-Man: Lost Cause, has now shared a new video on YouTube revealing some major updates for the upcoming project.

Littlefoot is a 3D animated tribute to the classic story that follows a young orphaned dinosaur who’s forced to navigate grief, survival, and unexpected friendship after a devastating natural disaster.

“This film follows Littlefoot, alone, grieving, and trying to make sense of a world that has just completely fallen apart,” Lever says in the video. “And slowly, painfully, he begins to allow others in. It’s about one character learning how to carry grief and then realizing he doesn’t have to do it alone.”

Lever emphasizes that Littlefoot is not an improvement over the original, but a love letter to it.

“The original is perfect,” he says. “This isn’t about copying the original, or maybe there’s problems with the original and this is making it better — that’s not the case. The original is perfect. I wouldn’t want to touch that. It’s just reimaging it with today’s technology.”

Related: Exploring 5 Disney Lands That Went Extinct Before DinoLand U.S.A.

What also makes Lever’s short film so special is not just the artistic direction, but its potential to reignite interest in the somewhat dormant IP. With the rise of legacy reboots and live-action remakes, The Land Before Time has remained curiously absent.

The original film, directed by Don Bluth and executive produced by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, has long been a quiet giant in the world of animated features. While The Land Before Time did spawn 13 direct-to-video sequels and a TV series, it has largely remained in the background of dinosaur-centered entertainment, overshadowed by franchises like Jurassic World. But the reimagining could change that.

“A lot of people today haven’t seen it,” Lever says of the original film. “In a world where remakes are everywhere, it’s rare to find one that actually deserves to be brought back. This story does. It’s emotional, it’s raw, it’s quietly powerful.”

With a cast that includes Summer-Joules as Littlefoot and Larissa as Littlefoot’s mother, Lever and his team are creating the 15-minute film independently, without funding, using only personal time and passion.

Littlefoot is still in production, but Lever’s update and teaser clips have already drawn renewed attention to the beloved prehistoric world. It might not be long before Universal Pictures notices—and maybe even considers relaunching a dinosaur franchise that could give even Jurassic a run for its money.

For updates on the progress of Littlefoot, and to subscribe and show your support, you can follow Joey Lever on YouTube channel, Facebook, and Instagram.

Would you like to see an official remake of The Land Before Time? Let us know in the comments!