We Need Another Movie

[Muppet Master]

Come on, there's no chance we'll have an Electric Mayhem film, although I'd love to see one. The next muppet film should be geared more towards adults like the original muppet show.


SYNOPSIS: The muppet gang is back in "Muppet Spies:Survival of the Fittest". The muppets are working as secrect agents/spies for the FBI. They are given a secret mission to catch a villian who has captured their best agent and held him hostage (the agent is Pierce Bronsan) AS WELL AS bombed several of their headquarters. The muppets are given a special plane/helicopter to use and capture the crook, but they find that they are unable to catch the crook after going to several areas and finding no one. Then their plane is struck by lightning, and it crashes in the middle of nowhere in several different areas including a desert, an ANTARTICA-LIKE SETTING, AND SOME OTHER ONES, seperating the muppets into several different groups. 1. Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo 2. Miss Piggy and Annie Sue 3. Animal, The Swedish Chef, and Beaker 4. The Electric Mayhem, Rizzo, and Pepe. The muppets have to survive in these groups, try to find each other, and stop the villian. In the end, they find out the FBI was leading them on a wild goose chase in a plan to seperate and get rid of them, the FBI directors (played by Daniel Craig and Sandra Bullock) both hated the muppets, because they were such big stars, and they could never become rich and famous. In the climax, the muppets break in and reak havoc on the FBI headquarters which ends with Crazy Harry using his plunger box and making several large explosions. The film ends with the muppets all reunitning, and agreeing that they're not cut out for government work and end up opening a resteraunt (this part is meant as a gag), then the credits roll.

Overal Summary: Muppets are spies, sent on wild goose chase, plane crashes, the muppets have to survive all alone in different places, learn the truth, reak havoc on FBI headquarters, THE END

 

[Mister Muppet]

As great as another movie would be to complete the Muppets Disney trilogy
I don't think another movie would be the right move yet. Personally I would rather see them move back to television for a bit or more web episodes. A new movie is not a bad idea but they should try a new movie in a few years. But I think a TV series would be the best move for now.

 

[Muppet Master]

As great as another movie would be to complete the Muppets Disney trilogy
I don't think another movie would be the right move yet. Personally I would rather see them move back to television for a bit or more web episodes. A new movie is not a bad idea but they should try a new movie in a few years. But I think a TV series would be the best move for now.

That would be great, if it weren't for Disney refusing to make one more than 6 episodes. I thought Muppisodes would end up being a recurring series, but it lasted one episode (with a rerun of an old muppet web short as episode two). Disney Drive-On lasted 6 episodes, and while Disney made those years ago I still think more should be made. So in all, both attempts at a recurring series were mainly just for advertising, so ya I doubt Disney's going to make one, sadly. Gone are the days when Disney made tons of web shorts like that genius stuff with Statler and Waldorf, the stuff with Sam the Eagle, the stuff with Beaker, Muppet Labs, The Swedish Chef, and other stuff that worked well. Now all that's on "The Muppets" Youtube channel is all advertisements and clips for MMW, and before for TM'11. Since the new movies it feels like the muppets are acting that they are too good for web shorts, but we need more.

 

[Drtooth]

As great as another movie would be to complete the Muppets Disney trilogy
I don't think another movie would be the right move yet. Personally I would rather see them move back to television for a bit or more web episodes. A new movie is not a bad idea but they should try a new movie in a few years. But I think a TV series would be the best move for now.

A small amount of wait time wouldn't be terrible. They'd clearly go to another team to get it done, but to throw out the entire movie making franchise is an over reaction. Especially since Muppet movies were never high yield until they hit home video. The Muppets was an exception to the rule, especially with 2 weaker kid's movies on its tail (I'm not counting Hugo, cuz only film school nerds would have seen it anyway). Meanwhile, Planes 2 only made money overseas, and even then less than half of what the last one did. And you know we're gonna see at least 3 more of those, probably DTV's, but they're going to force that one down. MMW could have had that sort of international rescue, had Disney not screwed up with the international marketing. Even then, they released it to a very small amount of foreign markets. The only reason movies are even profiting in a Box Office year this bad is the international market.

That would be great, if it weren't for Disney refusing to make one more than 6 episodes. I thought Muppisodes would end up being a recurring series, but it lasted one episode (with a rerun of an old muppet web short as episode two). Disney Drive-On lasted 6 episodes, and while Disney made those years ago I still think more should be made. So in all, both attempts at a recurring series were mainly just for advertising, so ya I doubt Disney's going to make one, sadly.

Which is baffling. They don't want to make a tiny margin of profit by making another movie and giving it a stronger release date (rather than sinking a fortune into another action/adventure debacle), there's no room for it on television. The internet is the genius place to put them, since you can just have someone link to it and the most casual of casual fans have access to them. Jim totally would have moved Muppets to the internet if he were still around... and yes, Disney was the first to take advantage of that (Henson uses theirs for advertising worse)... but the internet stuff kept the interest going up before the first project. Then nothing. Really?

 

[Mister Muppet]

A small amount of wait time wouldn't be terrible. They'd clearly go to another team to get it done, but to throw out the entire movie making franchise is an over reaction. Especially since Muppet movies were never high yield until they hit home video. The Muppets was an exception to the rule, especially with 2 weaker kid's movies on its tail (I'm not counting Hugo, cuz only film school nerds would have seen it anyway). Meanwhile, Planes 2 only made money overseas, and even then less than half of what the last one did. And you know we're gonna see at least 3 more of those, probably DTV's, but they're going to force that one down. MMW could have had that sort of international rescue, had Disney not screwed up with the international marketing. Even then, they released it to a very small amount of foreign markets. The only reason movies are even profiting in a Box Office year this bad is the international market.QUOTE]
I never suggested to throw out the entire movie making franchise. I wouldn't mind waiting for another film. And my suggestion for them to move to television and the web would be a great way to keep them in the public eye.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

I don't think we necessarily need another film- for now at least. The way I see it, the 2011 film became a huge hit by many people, whether they were Muppet fans or not, so it made a lot of sense to go for making another film. When it was officially confirmed that there would be another film in the making, we all obviously got hyped up about it. Eventually we also learned that it would be a comedy caper, and I thought to myself, "this is gonna be such an awesome movie, I have a real feeling that there will be another one before we know it!" Jumping forward to June 2013's teaser trailer, it was official that this movie would be awesome, and then going to November 2013-March 2014, we got the official trailer and mudslide of ads promoting Muppets Most Wanted! All, I could think to myself was once again how awesome the film was gonna be and that there should be another one after that! But then, on March 22, those thoughts disappeared. Now, a lot of us on here (myself included) obviously enjoyed the movie to pieces! However, several of us (again, myself included) had the honor of seeing it at a theater where there was a super duper small audience (when I told several of my friends about this detail, they were all saying things like how the Muppets deserve a better audience than that). Then of course, we saw how small of a box office the film got and that's when I could no longer see them making another film- as I've said before, I think it's due to Captain America and Divergent coming out at that same time.

Like I've pointed out on here twice, Bobin and Stoller are up to making another film and have some ideas in mind, however, another sequel is gonna depend on the home media sales of Muppets Most Wanted. Personally, I don't think they should go right ahead and make another movie yet. Right now, I would rather much see the Muppets make a new TV show first. If that eventually happens, whoever is in charge should wait and see how popular it is amongst the audience/viewers, and then go from there about making another film.

Does anyone agree with me about all this?

 

[Drtooth]

I'm sorry.... a TV series is never going to happen even if the movie pulled in Marvel film numbers. No matter what night it's going to be on, it will either be opposite a higher rated show or a night no one watches television.

There is a huge call to bring them back to television, sure, but I'm sure only half of those who want a show will actually watch it, and less than half of that will continue after the first couple of episodes. Then everyone will whine about how poorly it did on television and blame the tired old shows they were watching instead in the first place. I can't see a Muppet series lasting more than 13 episodes in this TV climate, no matter what day or time its on.

 

[jvcarroll]

I'm sorry.... a TV series is never going to happen even if the movie pulled in Marvel film numbers. No matter what night it's going to be on, it will either be opposite a higher rated show or a night no one watches television.

There is a huge call to bring them back to television, sure, but I'm sure only half of those who want a show will actually watch it, and less than half of that will continue after the first couple of episodes. Then everyone will whine about how poorly it did on television and blame the tired old shows they were watching instead in the first place. I can't see a Muppet series lasting more than 13 episodes in this TV climate, no matter what day or time its on.

I reject that due to the variety of options programs now have. Netflix not only carries series, but they'll have talk shows soon. Crag Ferguson is moving his persona to the 7pm hour in syndication. Let's not forget that the Muppet Show itself was syndicated. If the Muppets return to television it will likely be through non-traditional means, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Quite the contrary. The claim that many people calling for a new show wouldn't watch it is a claim that one could make about anything.

However, all of this is conjecture. The truth is that I don't see Disney's desire to do too much with the Muppets at the moment. MMW was a solid effort that didn't pay off enough. My one complaint is that television programs used to inspire the leap to film. Now that seems to be the opposite case.

I wonder if Disney Drive On was an attempt at sticking a Muppety toe in the pool of streaming content in order to present distributors like Hulu, Amazon and Netflix with viewership numbers. The intent could have been to facilitate a pitch. I have no knowledge of this, but it seems likely. The sad part is that the content was so well hidden on Disney's site that few non-fans could see it or would spend the time clicking around enough to get to it.

But if Marvel can come out with Netflix series, then the Muppets should be a no-brainer. A series of specials would be cool.

 

[Drtooth]

The claim that many people calling for a new show wouldn't watch it is a claim that one could make about anything.

I hate when people call for something and then immediately call it the worst thing in the world because it doesn't fit in with their contradicting fan fic ideas they had in their mind. It's kinda like how everyone's whining for them to make a Wonder Woman project, and how if we ever got one it would be too sexist or not sexist enough... and both at the same time.

If we do get a Muppet Show, it will either be a retread of the old 70's series or it will go in another direction. Either way, complaints. I love the new content paradox. You can't make a new series with old characters because it won't measure up to the original, you can't make entirely new series because they don't hold the same nostalgic weight of classic characters.

However, all of this is conjecture. The truth is that I don't see Disney's desire to do too much with the Muppets at the moment. MMW was a solid effort that didn't pay off enough. My one complaint is that television programs used to inspire the leap to film. Now that seems to be the opposite case.

I agree that's the problem. A tiny profit is somehow worse than bombing completely. But they also have to realize that they released the movie at a pretty stupid time...after a long line of family movies, just before their huge Marvel film, opposite a film that would take away the tween audience. Bad timing killed the movie, not the Muppets. The franchise is stronger than one film. I see the point of them not trying again, sure... but not trying again so they can make some F-grade, low budget family movie that won't make money anyway? Just take a third chance, and hope they don't get anyone who can scare away overly religious types and hipsters who have zero tolerance for comedians that have careers that last longer than 5 weeks.

Yeah, I'm saying Ricky Gervais probably was a factor in the movie not doing so well. Shame, since this was his dream project and all. I guess a lot of film goers were insulted the film didn't feature Jason Segal. I mean, Sex Tape did well, right? right?

 

[jvcarroll]

I hate when people call for something and then immediately call it the worst thing in the world because it doesn't fit in with their contradicting fan fic ideas they had in their mind. It's kinda like how everyone's whining for them to make a Wonder Woman project, and how if we ever got one it would be too sexist or not sexist enough... and both at the same time.

If we do get a Muppet Show, it will either be a retread of the old 70's series or it will go in another direction. Either way, complaints. I love the new content paradox. You can't make a new series with old characters because it won't measure up to the original, you can't make entirely new series because they don't hold the same nostalgic weight of classic characters.




I agree that's the problem. A tiny profit is somehow worse than bombing completely. But they also have to realize that they released the movie at a pretty stupid time...after a long line of family movies, just before their huge Marvel film, opposite a film that would take away the tween audience. Bad timing killed the movie, not the Muppets. The franchise is stronger than one film. I see the point of them not trying again, sure... but not trying again so they can make some F-grade, low budget family movie that won't make money anyway? Just take a third chance, and hope they don't get anyone who can scare away overly religious types and hipsters who have zero tolerance for comedians that have careers that last longer than 5 weeks.

Yeah, I'm saying Ricky Gervais probably was a factor in the movie not doing so well. Shame, since this was his dream project and all. I guess a lot of film goers were insulted the film didn't feature Jason Segal. I mean, Sex Tape did well, right? right?

The Muppets have always encountered problems with funding that Jim masterfully smoothed-over through personal connection and perseverance. That seems to be the missing ingredient these days.

The same problem the Muppets are having in entertainment are the same the had in the Palisades toy line and just in general in their history. Successful product requires a current need for it. The thin is, need has to be first created and promoted, yet no one is interested in creating or promoting anything without the need first. It's a chicken and egg dilemma.

Most everyone loved the action figures of ten years ago, but the Muppets didn't have any high-profile projects to promote their brand. That means the public had no desire to seek out product, therefore stores were reluctant to stock it - and with good reason.

So how do the Muppets create demand? Advertising. I know many fans complained about the Toyota, Subway, Lipton and Yoplait ads, but these are big companies with a far reach. More people saw these than the last two movies. They were all better produced than the Gaga special. These smaller bits, whether they be ads or online content, are the way to drum-up demand. Films are just so risky. I think it's time to focus on something else now.

I really would prefer a Netflix Muppets series. Maybe just six half-hour episodes per year. Something a bit more fleshed-out than Drive On, but not quite too expensive either. Muppets are funniest when they're off-the-cuff. Give them some playtime to have fun. The best things about MMW were all the Constantine interviews. Amazing and electric. I want to see more of that!