Disney Buys the Muppets

AwallaceUNC · Post by **AwallaceUNC** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 6:55 pm

Yaaaaay! That's so cool, I can't wait. I think Miss Piggy could make a good Dorothy, though. But she would also make a good wicked witch.

I'm just so excited.

I have some friends who are huge Muppet fans, and they are excited too. And I'm a huge Oz fan, and Disney fan... it's just too much! Woohoo!

-Aaron

MickeyMousePal · Post by **MickeyMousePal** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 7:12 pm

That's very sad that Diseny bought the rights to the Muppets.
Disney thinks that the Muppets will save them.
Yeah right it won't help.
Being a big fan of the Muppets Diseny tries to buy anything that will amuse children.

AwallaceUNC · Post by **AwallaceUNC** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 8:06 am

I don't think anyone at Disney believes the muppets will "save" them. However, yes, it can/will help. Why do you think that the acquisition of a valuable and already lucrative franchise of entertainment that shares the same targeted demographic as Disney's products would not be helpful? I'll agree that Disney has made some "iffy" purchases in the field of children's entertainment (i.e. Power Rangers), but it's not fair to lump the muppets in with that. They've had ties with Disney for a long time, there's even a theme park attraction for them at WDW. I believe that Disney is a natural home for the muppets, and Jim Henson believed that as well. If you are a muppet fan as you say, then I'd think that you would be pleased that the muppets have wound up in the hands of a major corporation that can make big things happen with them, from new movies to new theme park attractions to DVDs.

-Aaron

Kram Nebuer · Post by **Kram Nebuer** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 4:32 pm

awallaceunc wrote: They've had ties with Disney for a long time, there's even a theme park attraction for them at WDW. I believe that Disney is a natural home for the muppets, and Jim Henson believed that as well.

They did. I think it was already mentioned, but Henson, before he died, had always planned on merging with Disney. His children even say they are glad to be with Disney and were hoping to be so too.

awallaceunc also wrote: If you are a muppet fan as you say, then I'd think that you would be pleased that the muppets have wound up in the hands of a major corporation that can make big things happen with them, from new movies to new theme park attractions to DVDs.

We are pleased and hoping to get wonderful DVDs! A Behind-the-scenes extra with Muppets would be great!

Maerj · Post by **Maerj** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 4:57 pm

awallaceunc wrote: I'll agree that Disney has made some "iffy" purchases in the field of children's entertainment (i.e. Power Rangers), but it's not fair to lump the muppets in with that. -Aaron

Power Rangers, even though its a crappy show, is still a very popular show that sells lots of merchandise. That wasn't a bad purchase, again even though its a really bad show.

yoda_four · Post by **yoda_four** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 10:56 pm

Well it's official: http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2004/042804.shtml

Disney has already begun integrating these characters into the company. Kermit and Miss Piggy appeared on the widely-watched inaugural episode of The Nick and Jessica Variety Show on ABC. Other initiatives actively under consideration include live action releases, theatrical productions, computer-generated three-dimensional animation projects and attractions and parades at Disney's theme parks.

feedmelinguini · Post by **feedmelinguini** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 10:18 am

computer-generated three-dimensional animation projects

At first, this scared me. The muppets are more about personalities than their physical appearance. Jim Henson himself had no problem tinkering with the look of his characters, changing them frequently. Just look at Sesame Street's first season Oscar (who was orange) to witness this. When I first read this quote, I imagined a CGI Gonzo that Dave Goelz had nothing to do with. But then I remembered that for the Jim Henson Hour television program, the Henson folks created a character (Waldo?) that was a virtual puppet. It was controlled by a sensored glove on the puppeteer's hand, but only existed in the computer. If the "computer-generated three-dimensional animation projects" are of this type, it would not be foreign to the Henson magic.

-Lon

AwallaceUNC · Post by **AwallaceUNC** » Thu May 06, 2004 12:40 pm

Maerj wrote: Power Rangers, even though its a crappy show, is still a very popular show that sells lots of merchandise. That wasn't a bad purchase, again even though its a really bad show.

I agree with you there. I was talking more about how I don't see Power Rangers as really a good fit for Disney (whereas the Muppets are), but they certainly do seem to be beneficial in terms of money for the company.

Hmmm... 3D muppet animation? Well, they've been in 3D before (the attraction), and they've been animated before (Muppet Babies), so I can see this. I just hope it wouldn't become the standard Muppet format. After all, if they are animated, they cease to actually be Muppets... they're just cartoons. I guess we'll have to see where this goes.

A Muppet parade at Disney sounds AWESOME though!!!

So will Kermit still be a part of Sesame Street? If Disney owns him, but not Sesame Street, I could see that potentiall being a problem.

-Aaron

Maerj · Post by **Maerj** » Thu May 06, 2004 8:07 pm

awallaceunc wrote:
A Muppet parade at Disney sounds AWESOME though!!!

So will Kermit still be a part of Sesame Street? If Disney owns him, but not Sesame Street, I could see that potentiall being a problem.

-Aaron

I agree with ya on the parade, more Muppets at the parks will be really cool.

I believe that Kermit will still be on Sesame Street, also, Sesame Street was NOT included in the deal, so Disney will have nothing to do with that.

AwallaceUNC · Post by **AwallaceUNC** » Thu May 06, 2004 11:52 pm

Right... I was just thinking Disney might refuse to allow the Sesame Workshop to use Kermit anymore, since they now own him, but not that show.

-Aaron

aperezg · Post by **aperezg** » Fri May 07, 2004 6:00 am

I like it, All my family specifically my son love Bear in the Big Blue House, they will start a a new season of “The mupets show” with new artist such as Mariah Carey, Jennifer Aniston, Hale Berry, Caterine Z, etc !!!!!!!'m really enjoyed !!!!!

Kram Nebuer · Post by **Kram Nebuer** » Sun May 09, 2004 12:20 pm

awallaceunc wrote: A Muppet parade at Disney sounds AWESOME though!!!

Click Mickey to see Muppets on Parade!
ºoº

Click Kirby:(>")> to see the entire parade.

AwallaceUNC · Post by **AwallaceUNC** » Mon May 10, 2004 5:24 pm

Thanks, Kram. I actually saw that parade in person last year, and it was nice to revisit. Now just imagine a parade full of muppets!

-Aaron

yoda_four · Post by **yoda_four** » Mon May 31, 2004 9:12 pm

Disney has officially opened their very own Muppet web site: http://muppets.disney.go.com/index.html

Although, it looks exactly like the old one. Apparently, according to Jim Hill's spys, Disney going to relaunch in october and this is just a filler for now.

AwallaceUNC · Post by **AwallaceUNC** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 5:56 pm

Thanks. Every bit of news that I hear of Disney working with the Muppets excites me. I wonder exactly what this supposed upcoming relaunch of the site will bring along with it? Perhaps a new merch store with an announcement of a new Disney DVD release of one or more Muppet movies?

-Aaron

yoda_four · Post by **yoda_four** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:23 pm

Well Aaron, here's Jim Hill's post. Really interesting read. Sorry Luke for the bandwidth use, they use flash so it's hard to link to it.

It's a good news / bad news kind of a day ...

... at least when it comes to the Muppets. Jim Hill fills us in on what's been going on since the Walt Disney Company officially completed its acquisition of the Jim Henson characters.

So what's the latest news on Disney & the Muppets. To be honest, folks, it's pretty much a good news / bad news situation.

The good news is ... The Walt Disney Company has actually set up a Muppets website. Which you can get to by clicking on this link.

The bad news is ... This isn't actually a new website. But -- rather -- just the old Muppets.com with some minor changes.

That the Mouse would seem to put so little thought into Kermit & Co.'s official debut on Disney.com (Other than to slap a "© Disney. All rights reserved." and a "© Muppets Holding Company, LLC" on the old Muppets.com homepage) has obviously got Henson fans concerned that Disney's only in this for the quick buck.

Certainly the news that Kermit the Frog, Statler & Waldorf made a live appearance at last month's Los Angeles Screening (I.E. The annual industry event where TV program buyers from 150 countries fly into Hollywood to see presentations on the next season's television programs) heartened some Henson fans. But when the news leaked out that the Muppets weren't actually there to announce a new TV special or show, but -- rather -- just to entertain the crowd at the El Capitan ... disappointment sunk in again.

To be completely fair ... I should mention that my sources at Disney.com say that the Muppets.com site that they have up right now is just a place holder And that -- sometime later this year -- an all-new, content heavy version of the site will debut.

And -- as for the Muppets returning to television anytime soon -- while it's true that nothing has officially been announced ... Disney supposedly already several projects in the works for Miss Piggy & pals. One involves the Muppets taking on a more prominent role in the next Jessica Simpson / Nick Lachey TV special (Which is currently due to be taped in October, then eventually air in late November / early December). Another project involves reviving the Muppet Babies franchise. Only -- this time -- the toddler versions of Piggy, Kermie, Fozzie et al would be done in CG.

(In the spirit of full disclosure, I guess I should point out that the "Muppet Babies" CG TV series idea isn't one that anyone at Disney came up with. But -- rather -- a project that was initially developed while the characters were still owed by the Jim Henson Company. Unfortunately, the folks at Henson lacked the money & the marketing might to make this series idea a reality. Whereas the Walt Disney Company has all the dough necessary to make a computer animated "Muppet Babies" series a reality. Though -- that said -- Disney is reportedly looking into ways that it can economize on this projected Toon Disney TV series. Among the ideas that the Mouse is supposedly considering in order to keep production costs down is having the "Muppet Babies" storyboarded in the U.S. and then animated overseas at a CG facility in Korea or India.)

"But what about the 'Muppet Wizard of Oz"?," you ask. "Wasn't that TV movie that supposed to go into production this summer, and then pop up on ABC as a special to air during November sweeps?" Well ... It's looking like it could take a little while longer for Kermit & Co. to head "Over the Rainbow." Though this project is still said to be a "Go," it's now looking less and less likely that the "Muppet Wizard of Oz" will wind up going before the cameras before the fall. In fact, according to some of the folks I've spoken with, this two-hour ABC special (Which is still tentatively slated to air as an episode of "The Wonderful World of Disney") may not actually begin shooting 'til late November / early December. With this special then not airing 'til May of 2005.

And -- once again -- the economies kick in. Supposedly, Henson's Muppeteers have been told that they'll probably going to have to do some traveling in order to shoot "Oz." In one scenario, the cast & crew is just heading over the US border to Vancouver in order to shoot the show. In another, more bizarre scenario, Disney's accountants allegedly proposed sending the "Muppet Wizard of Oz" project to South Africa. Where (I'm told) the Mouse reportedly thinks that it can get a lot more bang for its buck.

So where does this leave the folks at the Jim Henson Company? Who were supposedly counting on some quick cash flowing in from Disney in order to keep the staff at the old Chaplin studio complex busy? To date, all that these folks have been busy doing is packing. Packing up all of the Muppet-related material in the company's archives and shipping it over the hill to Burbank. For cataloguing by the crew at Disney.

Now that that's done ... The fear now is that the cutbacks will soon begin. As Henson pares back the size of its studio staff, getting the company's head count down to a more manageable number.

According to someone I spoke with at Henson last week, " .. People are scared here, Jim. There's obviously not enough work in the pipeline to keep the whole staff occupied. 'Good Boy' sold well enough on video & DVD that MGM's ordered a low budget sequel. So that's at least some work. But the reality is heads are going to roll here soon. I've heard that Brian & Lisa are thinking of letting 2/3rds of the staff go. Cutting the company back to just a core group of 40-50 people."

And -- speaking of cutting -- wait 'til you hear about the deal that Henson had to cut with Disney in order to keep Kermit's image as part of their company logo. Because the Frog is now the Mouse's property, lawyers for the Jim Henson Company allegedly had to get a special clause added to the acquisition contract. Which stated that -- while Kermit the Frog was still to become the property of the Walt Disney Company -- the Jim Henson Company would still have the right to include Kermit's likeness as part of that company's logo for a set number of years.

"How many years?" you ask. Ah ... I'm working on that part of the story, folks. Still gathering up the Henson-related tidbits where I can and while I may.

But -- for Henson fans -- what with the news that the Walt Disney Company is taking a somewhat slow, very methodical approach to relaunching the Muppets as a viable franchise as well as the word getting out that the staff cutbacks should soon begin at the Jim Henson Company, maybe this really isn't a "good news/bad news" kind of article. That -- from where the Henson fans are sitting -- this kind of looks like an all-bad news kind of article.

Tell you what? As soon as I get some good news that relates to the Muppets, I'll post another article here at the site.

Post by **Luke** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:29 pm

Thanks for the article, Paul. Like most of Jim Hill's stuff, it's an interesting read.

AwallaceUNC · Post by **AwallaceUNC** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:51 pm

Thanks. I hate to see the delays, especially on the Muppet/Oz production, but at least it's still a go for a 2005 premier. On one hand, it's easy to say that Disney is taking things too slow w/ the new property, but if it was the other way around, I imagine that they would be criticized for overkill or exploitation.

-Aaron

yoda_four · Post by **yoda_four** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:57 pm

You're welcome. I read Jim's editorials all the time, lots of cool insider info. Yea, it's too bad Eisner's going slow with the Muppets and Jim Henson Co.'s not really getting much out of the deal other than a secure place for the Muppets. I suppose rushing things isn't always the greatest, but I'll be happy as long as the Muppets get the respect they deserve in the long run. (And we get new DVDs once the Columbia contract finishes.)

yoda_four · Post by **yoda_four** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 2:13 pm

Hey, just read found out on Animated-news that the new Disney-Muppets website is gone! All that filler has been taken down and it's got this funny pic of Kermit wearing a Mickey Mouse cap. Visit the site: http://muppets.disney.go.com/

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Disney Buys the Muppets