Disney in talks to buy Muppets

[frogboy4]

With Disney's dissolving their traditional animation division, an independently run Creature Shop might be a good idea. Well, as long as they can get investors and funding. I wouldn't want to see Disney dissolve the Creature Shop a few years later. I just don't see why they wouldn't want the that too.

 

[scarecroe]

Originally posted by Chilly Down
I'd love to see Dark Crystal and Labyrinth in the Animal Kingdom. That was actually talked about a few years ago at the last buyout attempt. Unfortunately, if the Creature Shop is not part of the Disney deal, it seems unlikely this would happen.

Well, JHC owns the rights to those movies, not the Creature Shop. They're just an effects house.

 

[Muppets1985]

Originally posted by Chilly Down

Stevie: I'd love to see Dark Crystal and Labyrinth in the Animal Kingdom. That was actually talked about a few years ago at the last buyout attempt. Unfortunately, if the Creature Shop is not part of the Disney deal, it seems unlikely this would happen.

Disney talked about doin it? or a Fan on MC?? I WOULD LOVE to see this happen also...but.......doesn't Sony own the Labyrinth movie? If they (Disney) couldn't get Labyrinth in then I would LOVE to have Fraggle Rock re-place it, tho that WOULD be sooooo COOL!!

Down in Fraggle rock..bom, bom hehe Sorry Ijust wanted to use the Floyd!

 

[scarecroe]

Sony bought the company that distributed it, but JHC still owns the movie. Unless they sold the rights for some reason and no one told me

 

[BoyRaisin2]

Originally posted by frogboy4
With Disney's dissolving their traditional animation division, an independently run Creature Shop might be a good idea.

Now, is it true that Disney's closing their animation division? I saw another thread around here saying something like that, but it was long so I didn't read it.

I wonder about a few things if Disney actually DID finally buy Henson (which I'm trying not to get my hopes up), would JHC still have the video deal with Sony? And despite losing the Creature Shop, could Henson even do further projects with Farscape and its fantasy projects?

I also find it curious that EM.TV has not even officially said CS was up for sale, it's only mentioned in these articles since the Valentine deal started.

ALSO, I do not want Classic Media to buy Henson. Not just because it's not Disney. You don't have to worry about CM messing up Henson, because they won't do anything! It seems they own their other characters for the sake of owning them and possibly releasing their old crap on video or something. The only thing I've heard from them is that they're making a new "Dick Tracy" cartoon. I even wonder how they've gotten all their stuff in the first place.

I'd say watch out Monday or other Mondays, 'cause Mondays are usually the day when media mergers are announced.

 

[danielromens]

Those of you rooting for Dis have failed to understand this news.
Disney does NOT want to buy Henson. They want to buy the Movies and the rights to the Muppet characters. What is going to happen to the rest of the company when this goes through? What about the other shows in production? Will they remain with the Henson company? A Henson company that will not even be able to use Kermit the Frog as their logo because he will belong to Disney? Will the Kermit Chaplin statue at Henson studios get taken down like all of the unauthorised Mickey and Co. pictures and work across the US.

As far as I can guesss this move will kill the Henson Company as we know it.

Food for thought.

 

[frogboy4]

BoyRaisin2 -

It seems that Disney are dissolving the traditional film animation division. This has been discussed for a few years now, but we'll see. If Lilo wins the Oscar they might whistle a different tune...er toon. I hope it isn't true, but those are the reports I've been hearing from industry folk and in the news. It will certainly be a terrible day if it happens.

The other Jamie-

The question is - which big fish is going to swallow Henson? Any company that buys them will probably have similar restrictions about character use as Disney has in place. All the companies would be looking at the Muppets in the way you described - or worse. The main thing I see with the Disney Company is that they will want to keep the Muppets active in a way that no other company will. I have bad feelings about Disney, but better than the other offers I've been hearing about. Without Jim's guidance, none of the options are that pretty (not even a buy-back). I'd also feel much better with the Muppets back in the hands of an American institution. They deserve the best. I was once supporting Time Warner, but they're a bigger mess than Disney these days, but both will gain momentum again.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

So that odd phrase "the Muppet movie catalog and characters" is what IT means? Or is it just an odd choice of words. I can never tell with these half-baked articles.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

300th message (and what a crappy one)

Great, in the two hours since I wrote that post I've been thinking about "the Muppet movie catalog and characters" thing. Something seems wrong about that. Very very wrong. Thank you daniel for making me think.

 

[Chilly Down]

Scarecroe: That's where it gets confusing, isn't it? I guess Disney would own the rights to the movie library anyway. So what about Farscape? They'd own the rights to the 88 episodes already produced, while EM.TV (or whoever ends up with the CS) would own any continuation of the series? Oog. My head hurts.

Stevie: Jim Hill, our insider source, mentioned that Disney and Henson had discussed the idea of DC and Labyrinth in the theme parks. And as Scarecroe noted, Sony only DISTRIBUTED those movies; they don't own them. If they do put them in the Disney parks, I'm packing up for a trip to Anaheim!

BoyRaisin: The possibility of Disney closing down its feature animation division was first reported on Aint-It-Cool-News, so I didn't pay much regard to it. However, if Jamie's hearing rumblings, I'm more inclined to believe it.

Disney is scared right now because the CGI films have been doing well, both for them and other studios (Toy Story's, Shrek, Ice Age, Monsters Inc.), while traditional animated films for them and other studios have tanked (Treasure Planet, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron). Still, Disney's biggest hit this year was "Lilo & Stitch." They'd be really stupid if they shut down features, especially since Pixar is about to bolt from them and their only in-house CGI feature was the bomb "Dinosaur." I think this is silly talk being done out of fear, but it will end soon. In the 80s, sitcoms were doing so badly that ABC actually said that they'd never air another sitcom again. This was in May 1984. In September of that year, "The Cosby Show" premiered. The following year, ABC had a TON of comedies on its roster. So if Disney is seriously considering this, I believe they'll come around on this ridiculous decision. For the sake of the animators' jobs, I hope this is sooner rather than later.

Also, if Disney owned the Muppets' catalog, count on the video deal with Sony to stop. Expect new DVDs of all the movies, totally cropped but with Brian Henson commentary.

Daniel: You bring up a possibly good point. I would think they would still want the company around, just because someone needs to run the operations on a day-to-day basis. But you never know. At any rate, Sesame won't be affected (since that's owned by Sesame Workshop anyway), Bear in the Big Blue House won't be affected (since that's produced by Disney), and if Animal Jam is as bad as I hear it is, it won't be on the air long enough for it to matter. So the main question remains about Farscape.

And I think you're just panicking a little bit about the Kermit statue. Illegal and unauthorized Mickeys are completely different from a statue commissioned by the company who created the character! More than likely, they'll use the Henson Company building for extra production facilities for themselves.

But hey, those are just my thoughts on the matter, and what do I know?

Y'know who'd be the best for the Muppets? Sesame Workshop. They bought the rights to the Sesame characters, then they went right on doing the stuff they always do. Unfortunately, I don't think they're in the running...