'House of Mouse' buys 'The Muppets'!!.....Nooooooo!!!

[Beast]

For the love of god, no. Disney gobbles up another magical thing like the Muppets. I seriously cannot believe that the 'Jim Henson Co' would sell out to Disney. I'm not the biggest Muppet fan on the block, but I can tell that this news will lead to no good.

Disney to Buy Muppets, Relaunch on TV

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co. said on Tuesday it had agreed to buy the Muppets and "Bear in the Blue House" characters from Jim Henson Co. for undisclosed terms.

Disney, which has flirted for more than a decade with acquiring Kermit the Frog and friends, said it would relaunch the Muppets with new television specials and series.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[Kidhuman]

Egads thats not good. Now with Disney onthe block, someone else might get the rights to them. This is one big mess.

[JediTricks]

I don't get this at all, Henson's family ends up pulling the rug out from under Disney who was trying to buy the Henson company from its previous German owners by buying it themselves only a year or so ago, why would they now do this, especially right when Disney is under the threat of being taken over by Comcast, willingly merged with Warner Brothers, or shakily purchased by Pixar and private investors? Selling such beloved characters as the Muppets seems like a disasterous move, my inner child is weeping.

[stillakid]

I don't get this at all, Henson's family ends up pulling the rug out from under Disney who was trying to buy the Henson company from its previous German owners by buying it themselves only a year or so ago, why would they now do this, especially right when Disney is under the threat of being taken over by Comcast, willingly merged with Warner Brothers, or shakily purchased by Pixar and private investors? Selling such beloved characters as the Muppets seems like a disasterous move, my inner child is weeping.

From the looks of things, it feels like Eisner is grasping at straws to keep himself afloat. He'll never let on, that ego and all, but losing Pixar was huge. That event is in the wake of that public feud with Roy. And now the possible hostile takeover doesn't bode well for Eisner's image in the eyes of the stockholders. He's still got his "yes-men" in the boardroom, but that will only go so far. Acquiring a "kid" centered property like Muppets will help shore up the leaks that are gushing from the Disney ship. It's still probably too little too late as I predict that SKG will make a bid for Pixar if for nothing else than to flip off Eisner. Then we'll see the sparks fly!

[Banthaholic]

Back in the 90's Disney & Henson worked together, and I actually enjoyed The Muppets Christmas Story & Muppet's Treasure Island.
After that relatiosnship ended, Muppets from Space happened, and that one didn't do much for me.
Hopefully, creatively they can come up with some good stories for the muppets. I'm actually glad to see they mended their bridge. Before Jim died he was in the process of trying to 'secure' his work with Disney, and the last thing he made before his death was Muppetvision 3D for WDW.

[JediTricks]

As a fan of The Muppet Movie, I felt that Muppets from Space was the only worthy successor in the franchise, capturing some of the original's heart and humor in a way that the previous, by-the-numbers sequels never did. Now, the franchise and its beloved characters have been dulled and whitewashed to the point where they're really sorta interchangable vague shells of their former characters - that stupid Pizza Hut ad they did for the Uber Bowl sure didn't help any - so it's odd that Disney would buy these characters since that's what they would have done to them anyway given enough time, thus rendering them virtually-unusable assets. But I'm sure Disnicorp will find a way to damage whatever good feeling is left for these beloved characters in no time at all, probably doing a few bad movies with crappy licensing and TV tie-ins thereby torpedoing Kermit & company for an entire generation.

The more I think about it, the more I don't want to think about it. The very notion of Disney buying the Muppets seems tragic and wasteful of Disney money and Jim Henson's creations.


I'm bristling at the idea of Dreamworks partnering up with Pixar, those 2 seem like oil and water to me for some reason, I guess because SKG's kiddie product always feels so bitter and dank while Pixar's usually seems alive and fresh.

[darthvyn]

wow. just... wow...

this sucks. i love the muppets so much, and really dislike most of disney. ('cept maybe for pirates of the carribean... man, that movie... )

kermit hasn't sounded the same since henson died, anyway... the REAL muppets live on in the original movies, and more importantly in the muppet show.

[bobafrett]

The thing I'm curious about is didn't Kermit get his start on Sesame Street? Or at least his rise to fame. So I'm wondering what Disney's responsibility is as far as the muppet characters on Sesame Street.

[Banthaholic]

The thing I'm curious about is didn't Kermit get his start on Sesame Street? Or at least his rise to fame. So I'm wondering what Disney's responsibility is as far as the muppet characters on Sesame Street.

Good question. I read somewhere that Henson is keeping the rights to it's creature department, as well as those Fragle's.

Hopefully Disney will release Muppet Babies on DVD. I recall a good SW episode from that show.

On a side Muppet related note, has anyone seen the Muppet Show DVD w/ Mark Hammil. I got it the other day and all I can say is, actually I can't say much I'm ...speachless...

[bobafrett]

On a side Muppet related note, has anyone seen the Muppet Show DVD w/ Mark Hammil. I got it the other day and all I can say is, actually I can't say much I'm ...speachless...

I haven't got that yet, but I'ver always been tempted as I used to watch the Muppet show with my family as a kid. I keep seeing the commercial, with a scene with Mark Hamill, and I have been looking around Best Buys and the like to see if I could just pick up that one in particular. I also wouldn't mind the one with John Denver..........."Rocky Mountain high......"