![The Muppets Muppets](https://i0.wp.com/www.geeksofdoom.com/GoD/img/2009/09/2009-09-14-the_muppets-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
If you got the reference in the title, you’re awesome and we’re putting you right up on the fridge.
Many of us cool kids are children of the ’80s, and as such, one of the greatest forms of entertainment ever to be created, is the Muppets. The Muppets are a creation of the late genius Jim Henson, who built an army of funny and lovable puppet characters who appeared in a countless amount of TV shows, specials, movies, music videos, cartoons, and everything in between. As life moved on and new generations of kids showed up, the Muppets faded off slowly, but never completely disappeared, making delightful cameo appearances on shows and events from time to time. But now, thanks to the massive Disney D23 Expo, we’ve learned that the Muppets are coming back in a big way, and their ready to take over the world again!
Back in March of 2008, we learned that we would finally be getting a brand new Muppet movie, with Forgetting Sarah Marshall team Jason Segel and Nick Stoller joining the Jim Henson Company to write and direct a new movie. Not much else had been known about the project since that time, but Coming Soon was on hand at the Disney Expo and they passed along word that a title for this movie has been made official: The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made.
The title suggest that the project will use a concept that Jim Henson himself had in 1985 where Gonzo blows their movie’s entire budget on the opening sequence, thus leaving them with zero money for the rest of the production and forcing them to improvise. On the other hand, Segel revealed a while ago that his movie would be about the Muppets putting on a show to save a cherished old theater from being bought and destroyed by an oil tycoon who wants the oil pocket that sits under the building. There is always the chance that the original concept will be used with this premise and that their show will be done with no budget after it gets spent poorly.
The news from D23 did not end there, though: there was also a smorgasbord (there’s a fun word we haven’t seen in a while) of other Muppet-related announcements. While the new movie is obviously the king of this Muppet party, they’re planning to go all-out in what looks like an attempt to bring the brand back to glory and back to the top where it belongs. What you will see is products and productions on basically all levels of entertainment: new Halloween and Christmas TV specials, which will start next year; new books, including one by everyone’s favorite cranky critics, Statler and Waldorf; new music released on CDs and digitally; multiple iPhone applications; new dolls and stuffed animals, workshops, a new Green campaign with eco-friendly clothes and other products, likely to be headed by Kermit the Frog, if I had to guess; Disney park attractions, and even — as odd as it sounds — graphic novels and motion comics, starting with one for Pigs in Space. These are just the basics — head over to Latino Review who was on-hand for the announcements and has many more details.
All of this, and let us not forget that a Fraggle Rock movie is also in the making. While I do love a lot of the entertainment we get from today’s technologies, there’s nothing like nostalgia. That said, bring on the puppet action!
I think the title was supposed to be “Not Quite a Mop, Not Quite a Puppet, But Oh, Man.”
Comment by Ed — September 14, 2009 @ 8:14 pm
Fraggle Rock movie???? wowza
Comment by scrotumbagmonkeyflicker — September 15, 2009 @ 4:34 am
Yay for Meat Puppets references!
Comment by Joseph — September 15, 2009 @ 7:53 pm
Damn I miss Jim Henson. I bloody love me some big scale animatronics….. and muppet babies!!
Comment by scrotumbagmonkeyflicker — September 27, 2009 @ 5:41 pm