Disney Enlists Segel & Stoller for new Muppets movie

[beaker]

Well we got some good news, as Aint It Cool News spoke with these two guys:

“Oh, god, you have no idea how much I love the Muppets,u201D he told me. And the reverence he expressed when he showed me the Dracula puppet that Henson’s workshop created for him and the joy I saw on his face, take after take over the next two days... there’s no doubt in my mind that Jason is the guy to do this, and he and Nick Stoller seem to have really clicked. I know how hard Nick’s worked to get MARSHALL just right, and I’m really curious to see how he builds from here. Doing a film like this, a no-**** Muppet movie, seems to indicate to me that he’s more about a great experience than he is about “playing the career game,u201D and that only makes me like him more.

Here's the whole article, but apparently the Aint It Cool News guys are giving the big thumbs up to this pairing
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/35992

Man, if Jonah Hill/Bill Hader/Seth Rogan even make cameos on here, that would be great
(the Superbad/Knocked Up/Sarah Marshall guys)

 

[Drtooth]

Meh... I'm excited for the possibilities, but also nervous. I'm just not sure the Disney brass really understands the Muppets or what would constitute a *good* Muppet script. I think they know a lot about what constitutes a good "kid movie" script, and occasionally a good "family movie" script, but the great thing about the old school Muppets style (tv show and first three movies, at least) was that it was kid friendly while still maintaining a level of humor that was entertaining on an adult level, and not in a pandering sort of way. I have only loved one post-classic Muppet movie, which was MTI, and I'm not even sure it entirely fell in line with that older Muppet style. I worry that Disney skews a lot of their modern live-action entertainment towart the "'tween" audience. I just don't want to see a Muppet movie with cameos by Miley Cyrus, Raven, Zack & Cody, etc. But, regardless, I remain cautiously optimistic. Maybe these guys will have a better understanding of what the Muppets should be.

~ Elo

I'm most nervous about those factors as well. I dreaded the thought of the Muppets engaging with forced banter between Disney's no talent robotic pop stars. Though I wouldn't mind Raven. At least she has acting experiance. What's more, she has Muppet experiance. After all, she was in Muppets at Disneyworld. But the others, fuh-gedda-boudit! Miley is already (as Cleveland Brown would put it) Urverywhere- they even shoehorned her into the Oscar telecast (ABC's telecast that is). I've spoken my peace about these shows. There's nothing remarkable about them, nothing I haven't seen in every family sitcom from the 80's, and they're undeservedly kicking the collective shells of animated programming. Miley can't even sing that well, and acts even worse. Lizzie MaGuire wasn't this bad.

That said, I'm definately no fan of NBC's American Coupling...errr... CBS's How I met your mother (Sorry. I get them confused, NARF), but I have a hunch this dude may have a handle on the Muppets that the writers of Muppet OZ just didn't have.

 

[Muppet Loverr]

I Hope Piggy will be in it

 

[Craig Crane]

I just hope it doesn't end up as one of these:
"Piggy Montana"
"Muppet School the Musical"
"101 Muppets"
"Piggy Poppins"
"The Frog & the Hound"
"The Frog Prince 2: Taminella's Revenge"
"Pepe In Wonderland"
"The Great Muppet Detective"
"The Pepe's New Groove"
"Janice And Stitch"
"Brother Bear 2: Fozzie Checks In"

Heh you get the idea of what I don't want to see Disney do.

Its going to be all of those and worse.

Di$ney have attached a couple of trendy names for their first tentative dip into murky muppet waters. So what if these guys have gone on record as saying they love the muppets... Of course she cut a deal there and then.... its not like people are falling over themselves these days to write or perform with the muppets.

Less chit chat I say and come up with something new and fresh...
Its a ballsy move to have two semi high profile creatives step up and write a new movie. But thats all they are doing..... I dont seem to recall hearing about it being green lit.

If Brian and Bill are indeed writing a new screenplay, I hope that is the case, because if the Muppets have a heart, then that is where it resides... regardless of recent events of history. But is it a matter of record that they are indeed penning a new script, or fan fancy? Plus, who isnt writing a script these days....?

I think it will be interesting to see where they take this, but I think deep down we already know. Remember the buzz around a certain Wizard of Oz project..... , coz that one turned out well.

I still maintain that Di$ney have no idea what to do with the muppets. Had Jim been alive, and seen the sale through, then things may have been different, because he would still have had an active part to play. But as it stands, there is no Muppet blood and guts attached to the property now.... no creative oversight. For all you know, you could end up with the Muppets version of Showgirls... Of course, thats not going to happen, but they could take the characters too far away from the characterizations you know and love to such an extent that you'll be left reeling. But Di$ney dont pay attention to the internet fan base.

I think you are going to find certain familiar elements in this new show, but the rest will be a veiled attempt at a re-branding and relaunch of the Muppets. Hence, why have two young writers with no Muppet experience other than being fans.

So, heres how I see it transpire...

Huge Brand Relaunch:
New Characters:
Fewer Familiar ones:
Desperate attempt to win the Teeny Dollar:
Lots of Happy Meals sold.

Of course, I hope and pray to the great Muppeteer in the sky that it wont be so, but the current Di$ney guard overseeing the Muppets is not the old Guard that made Jim feel so safe in the Knowledge that a Muppet sell off would be a good idea.... These people are Bean counters through and through (as was Eisner), but the difference was that like Jim, he at least had a vision and an endless admiration for the brand.... I cant honestly say that that would be the case today.

Like I have always said, and will always maintain: The Muppets, in order to work, need to be marshalled by people who know the property, the characters, the history and of course a firm belief in all the core values that made the muppets work in the first place.

Till that day, your just gonna have to put up with The Muppets doing High school Musical type / color by numbers / middle of the road / soul-less pap.

The only way they can make this work is to cross pollinate with other Disney Brands, thus exposing the muppets to a generation that have had very little Muppet exposure since '91.

Seriously, if you think I am wrong, or maybe out of order please dont hesitate to let me know. But I can feel it in my gut that this is just another hopeless exercise in Muppet history, from a bunch of clueless people who dont get the Muppets. Bear in mind, these are the same people that allowed the French Muppet show to go ahead. These are the same people who wanted to recast all the Muppets with multi performers, as well as franchise the show onto Cruise ships....

You gotta remember all of this, and try to get into the mindset of these so called "creatives"

If only Brian would do a 180 like he did with EMTV and bring the Muppets home.

 

[uppitymuppity]

I think it is going to be better than expected. Disney has been making some very intelligent choices lately. Don't count them out... they aren't as desperate and clueless about muppets as everyone is painting them to be.

 

[MrsPepper]

Well we got some good news, as Aint It Cool News spoke with these two guys:

“Oh, god, you have no idea how much I love the Muppets,u201D he told me. And the reverence he expressed when he showed me the Dracula puppet that Henson’s workshop created for him and the joy I saw on his face, take after take over the next two days... there’s no doubt in my mind that Jason is the guy to do this, and he and Nick Stoller seem to have really clicked. I know how hard Nick’s worked to get MARSHALL just right, and I’m really curious to see how he builds from here. Doing a film like this, a no-**** Muppet movie, seems to indicate to me that he’s more about a great experience than he is about “playing the career game,u201D and that only makes me like him more.

Here's the whole article, but apparently the Aint It Cool News guys are giving the big thumbs up to this pairing
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/35992

Man, if Jonah Hill/Bill Hader/Seth Rogan even make cameos on here, that would be great
(the Superbad/Knocked Up/Sarah Marshall guys)

Ooh, thanks for the article. I saw the thread and got excited, but I didn't know of the two guys mentioned. Here it seems like they are really passionate and enthusiastic, and I think a fresh new way to approach a muppet movie sounds REALLY exciting!

YAY! I really hope that this movie happens.We are WAY overdue! It's true. This lists the number of years in between muppet movies:
TMM - GMC: 2 years
GMC - MTM: 3 years
MTM - MCC: 9 years
MCC - MTI: 3 years
MTI - MFS: 3 years
MFS - projected date of 2010: 11 years

Let's hope the 11 years has been worth the long wait! Until then I will be avidly checking for updates. **super-excited**

 

[SarahOnBway]

I don't understand why some people want to doom this movie before it even starts. Have a little hope, a little faith. Yes, we've been through MANY disapointments, especially in the past few years, but why are we so convinced that it will remain this way? If WE'RE the big Muppet fans, shouldn't we be supportive and in their corner? We shouldn't turn against them when something different comes their way.

Look at Disney itself: in the 80s, no one wanted ANYTHING to do with it. The company was thisclose to being fractioned up and sold and then Eisner and the lot came in, took charge, and we got MGM and The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King...

The new website shows that Disney is taking a good amount of initiative in the Muppets--otherwise why go through all the trouble of transforming their site?

Also, why is it only a select few who should be able to write for the Muppets? Many people on this site write Muppet fan fic, which people enjoy, so why can't another Muppet lover, which Jason Segel has said he is (thanks for the link, Cory!) take a stab at it?

I apologize for my slight rant and obviously this is not directed at everybody. I just really wish people would--for their own sakes--be optimistic. It can't be worse than the NOTHING we have now, right?

 

[SarahOnBway]

BTW, am I the only one who thinks "Taminella's Revenge" sounds pretty awesome?

 

[Drtooth]

Let me just try to sort this all out.

I can agree with Craig on some level. I don't think the "Disney doesn't know what to do with the Muppets" isn't so much a "what" as a "How". The reaction to OZ was a giant step in the bad direction, due in part to the total rush job the film was. Since then, they've been treading very carefully. They don't knwo what project will work in today's creation free environment. But Disney's website is a step in the right direction. If the muppets were sold to any other big comapny, they'd trot them out, make one small project, and we'd never see them again.

I can't speak ill for this movie, since we don't even have anything to go on. We have the names of people who may write the script. That's all. Nothing more. We can't say it's going to be bad when we don't even know what genre it is. Not even a small piece of the plot.

As for this:

YAY! I really hope that this movie happens.We are WAY overdue! It's true. This lists the number of years in between muppet movies:
TMM - GMC: 2 years
GMC - MTM: 3 years
MTM - MCC: 9 years
MCC - MTI: 3 years
MTI - MFS: 3 years
MFS - projected date of 2010: 11 years

Well, the Made for TV, DTV films should count there as well. From MFS it was a 3 year wait for KSY and VMX, and a 2-3 year wait for MOZ. So it would be just a 9 year gap. project wise, the TV show gaps have been bigger. Muppets Tonight is pretty much 12+ years till the next Tv project. And that was 6 years in the making, since the Jim Henson Hour in 89. and that's just several years from The Muppet Show wrapping up.

 

[TheJimHensonHour]

BTW, am I the only one who thinks "Taminella's Revenge" sounds pretty awesome?

hah no that's my fave out of the ones I came up with lol
I miss the old witch!