The State of the Muppets (& Suggestions)

[Muppet Master]

You know, unfortunately, I think the only thing Disney's going to use the muppets now is for annoying promotions or commercials. Hopefully we'll see some DTV in the next couple of years, but for now, all they are really going to do is hang out with Jimmy Kimmel or drink some Lipton Ice Tea.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Let me just say I don't know what went wrong with MMW but for whatever reason it just didn't do well. I can't tell you how much in tears I was after being on such a high of opening day and expecting a packed theater like the last film only to have not even have it half full of people! I literally came home in tears! I wanted this to be a big hit so much because I thought were definitely gonna get a new Muppet Show or tv specials or something wonderful out of it. And to have it backfire is just well...devastating as a Muppet fan.

I enjoyed this film immensely! I def agreed with what Brian Henson said that this is a film his dad might do today.

I think this latest appearance of them on The View proves Disney isn't giving up on them yet! That is the kind of air time Id love to see them get more often of instead of these 3 min cookie cutter appearances. It gets them out there more and let's people see what their really about instead of a 2 hour movie on screen. And the audience was clearly having a great time. I sincerely hope Disney at least gives them a chance at TV again. That is where they truly shine! Considering we haven't heard Disney even green lighting another film means we probably won't be getting anymore for a while and that's not a bad thing. Maybe they could do a tv special of some sort. Maybe not doing Christmas movies again but maybe a Halloween or Valentines Day special? But as Jamie said don't throw them into the pit that is the Disney channel!

I hope and pray DVD sales turn out much better then the box office did. As for the logo I do agree I don't like it. It's bland and plain! Okay I'm done rambling.

 

[jvcarroll]

I'm concerned that the MMW Blu-ray is dropping on the same day as the Blu-rays for:

Disney's Hercules
Disney's Tarzan
Disney's Bedknobs & Broomsticks
Disney's Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad / Fun & Fancy Free
Batman: Assault on Arkham
Young Justice: The Complete First Season

and a week before:

Disney/Pixar's Toy Story of Terror
The Amazing Spider-Man 2

With all that front-loaded Disney content that fans have been anticipating for years, it almost seems as if someone over there doesn't want the Muppets to spike on the home video sales chart. I'm not a paranoid person, but that's crummy timing. Muppets should have already hit DVD/Blu-ray weeks ago. We'll see what happens. Maybe that sort of content dump will help or maybe MMW will prove to be more popular. Just seems weird.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

So everybody buy more then one copy! Buy one for yourself, your neighbor, friends, family, random people on the street.

 

[Drtooth]

With all that front-loaded Disney content that fans have been anticipating for years, it almost seems as if someone over there doesn't want the Muppets to spike on the home video sales chart. I'm not a paranoid person, but that's crummy timing. Muppets should have already hit DVD/Blu-ray weeks ago. We'll see what happens. Maybe that sort of content dump will help or maybe MMW will prove to be more popular. Just seems weird.

I don't see those films being that much of a problem, and the DVD release date was probably in the cards since the film was made. Amazing Spider-Man 2 sounds like the only strong competition.

But seriously... the brand is stronger than one odd movie. As long as we don't get another 10 year gap between MMW and..eh, I dunno... Muppet Sense and Sensibility (where they all play tertiary roles against B list celebrities), I'm okay with it. The movie did make money, and even just lost pocket change domestically. Still a better investment than something along the lines of Lone Ranger. Something tells me everything depends on how that horrible Alexander and the No Good etc Day does. I don't see that being a hit on any level. Meanwhile, Planes isn't exactly doing so hot either, and you know they're going to milk that one because of its connection to Cars.

What they SHOULD be doing, however, is to go back to internet videos. And I don't mean the Drive On thing (though that's good too)... but make more e-mail forward, board post sharing thing to keep the brand going. At least it's giving the characters out for free instead of making them pay 10 bucks or more a ticket to see them.

 

[Muppet Master]

You know, I just want DVD releases of TMS and MT! Is that TOO much to ask Disney. Test the waters with those DVD releases, and if they sell well than try to get a TV show on the air, and make a REAL webseries. It's really annoying how muppisodes lasted like 2 episodes, and Dinsey-Drive On was a 6-episode mini-series corporate synergy thing. Why can't Disney buckle down, and make like a 5-10 minute weekly web-series?

 

[jvcarroll]

I don't see those films being that much of a problem, and the DVD release date was probably in the cards since the film was made. Amazing Spider-Man 2 sounds like the only strong competition.

But seriously... the brand is stronger than one odd movie. As long as we don't get another 10 year gap between MMW and..eh, I dunno... Muppet Sense and Sensibility (where they all play tertiary roles against B list celebrities), I'm okay with it. The movie did make money, and even just lost pocket change domestically. Still a better investment than something along the lines of Lone Ranger. Something tells me everything depends on how that horrible Alexander and the No Good etc Day does. I don't see that being a hit on any level. Meanwhile, Planes isn't exactly doing so hot either, and you know they're going to milk that one because of its connection to Cars.

What they SHOULD be doing, however, is to go back to internet videos. And I don't mean the Drive On thing (though that's good too)... but make more e-mail forward, board post sharing thing to keep the brand going. At least it's giving the characters out for free instead of making them pay 10 bucks or more a ticket to see them.

MMW has a later video release date than TM did. I don't know why, but that was not something that was in the cards. Disney dumping four other releases on the same day as MMW is odd.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Id love to be a fly on the wall at Disney.

 

[Drtooth]

MMW has a later video release date than TM did. I don't know why, but that was not something that was in the cards. Disney dumping four other releases on the same day as MMW is odd.

The other ones being released sound like films only classic Disney movie collectors will be buying. I don't see it being a major let down because of those.

But I really have to question why they don't keep up the brand on the internet more consistently. We had a bunch of regular viral videos, and they stopped. They won internet awards and stopped. Then they had a couple more and stopped, then some ads for the first Disney movie and stopped... then, they had ONE Muppisode, while treating it like it was going to be a long running... scratch that... an actual running series. Then they recycled one for Christmas and nothing else since then. A couple Constantine videos... maybe if they put forth a bigger effort, the last film could have at least broke even domestically. Even if MMW pulled in Marvel money, we should still see regular Muppet web videos.