Henson sells Muppets to Disney

[muppet_dk]

Wow it's even possible to get a t-shrit
http://www.cafeshops.com/needcoffee.9901254

I wonder who would be willing to pay that for a t-shirt like that.

 

[sarah_yzma]

when I first heard this last night (my dad casually told me, like it was no big deal) I went WOAH bad news! but the more I think about it, the more I like it. Call me insane, but wouldn't it be pretty good if Disney treated the Muppets similar to Pooh? (well, except getting sued, that wasn't good!!) I think as long as Disney allows creative freedom (the two words I've preached the whole dang time) it will all be okay.....

 

[beaker]

Oh Jeez, THEY SOLD THE LARGE CUPS? OMG - We've had those since 1955. Is nothing sacred ?

Jim Hill has written his first article on this, actually it isn't all that bad. Except he claims he predicted two weeks ago that Eisner had dramatically turned to Henson asking for a deal as soon as all the Comcast

Well, I know ya paint Jim Hill as a whacko sometimes Luke, and I know Ive made my "Jim Hill predicted Disney Buyout in 2045 in his new oped piece!"
jokes...but seriously, he has a lot of good stuff to say. For everyone against this disney thing, look at Jim Hill's quote

The aggressive way that Disney's lawyers constantly pushed him to include the "Sesame Street" characters as part of the deal had particularly reportedly bothered Jim.

"He wouldn't even discuss how it might work," said Cooney. But that didn't stop Mickey's attorneys from continuing to lean on Henson. Which is why -- in the late winter of 1990 -- Jim allegedly expressed his concerns to Joan that maybe it was a mistake to hand the Muppets over to Mickey.

Wow it's even possible to get a t-shrit
http://www.cafeshops.com/needcoffee.9901254

I wonder who would be willing to pay that for a t-shirt like that.

OMG! That is hillarious! too bad it's not more discript. I cant say anything tho, past political commentary. I met Brian Henson irl, and found him to be more than courteous and nice.

when I first heard this last night (my dad casually told me, like it was no big deal) I went WOAH bad news! but the more I think about it, the more I like it. Call me insane, but wouldn't it be pretty good if Disney treated the Muppets similar to Pooh? (well, except getting sued, that wasn't good!!) I think as long as Disney allows creative freedom (the two words I've preached the whole dang time) it will all be okay.....

sarah, I like your thinking!

 

[Gusworld]

Coming in late to this conversation, a couple of observations:

(1) I notice no-one has had anything much to say about the inclusion of Bear in the buyout. Does this mean everyone thinks that's a good thing? Obviously the concern that Disney might kid-ify all the Muppet properties doesn't apply to Bear, which was always primarily aimed at a toddler audience. It's interesting though that Disney apparently thinks Bear is worth owning as a property, even though its TV arm didn't want to be involved in the project.

(2) I also notice a resumption of the "Muppets went downhill when they stopped being family friendly" argument earlier in this thread. This has always struck me as baloney, quite frankly. What about Janice's infamous "But Mom, those pictures were artistic!" remark? What about that great story in The Works about Jim Henson pretending that the workshop should make animatronic animals for sex films? The Muppets have always worked on a number of levels and stooped on occasions to innuendo; it isn't purely a post-Jim thing. (Though given that I find the current popular view that Janet Jackson's nipple represents the irreversible decline of society as we know it completely incomprehensible, I'll freely admit to have no understanding of how the average US citizen actually feels about allegedly smutty stuff.)

(3) While everyone seems concerned that sequels will be made to the existing Muppet movies, that doesn't strike me as highly likely. The characters in most (though not all) Disney animated flicks originate with those flicks, so sequels are the logical way to continue exploiting them.
In contrast, The Muppets are already recognised as appearing in a variety of forums (TV and films) -- they have established brand recognition (admittedly weaker than it was), so they can be put in new projects. Disney doing more Treasure Island/Christmas Carol/Oz style adaptations I can see, but there's no obvious value in doing the Muppet Movie II when they can whack the word Muppet in any title they like anyway.

Just some thoughts.
Angus

 

[doctorjpw]

This isn't a sign of the apocylpse.


Here's how I see it.

The Muppets are best represented by their classic TV and film library, which is now in the hands of one of the best home video divisions out there. Take the incredible 2-disc editions of things like "Fantasia", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," or "The Parent Trap" -----and apply them to "the Muppet Movie"...or FULL-SEASON SETS of "TMS." "Henson Treasures" tins, anyone? Reissues of Muppet Movie soundtracks?

I think this means more theme park presence (good), easier access to classic Henson stuff on, say, ABC Family (good), and the opening of the vaults to DVDs aplenty (good).

I'm trying real hard to find the bad in this, but I sure can't. Disney can't walk into the Palisades toys offices with a big stick and break the molds. They can't add Mickey Mouse to the cast of the Muppet Wizard of Oz. And NO, they can't shut down these websites! Visit:

www.jimhillmedia.com
www.songofthesouth.net

If Disney was in the business of tearing up websites these two might be the first...but they're still here.

Doc

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I'm confused now. Wasn't Jim's original intentions to have the companies merge--doesn't that mean a partnership, not a complete buy-out or ownership?

Eisner is using this as his last ploy to stay in power at Disney. He is evil. Pure bred evil. I'm telling you this because I believe it is true.

So, Lisa Henson is proud to have the Muppets join the classic characters of Disney. Again I ask: What have you seen that Disney produced that was quality using their own characters lately? The most recent thing, as one of my friends put it, was "those Pluto movies that came out a few years ago--besides that, I'm confused why they made Pluto a man and Goofy a dog.."

Serious quote, folks. She is completely clueless as to which is which.

Disney has captured some characters that children love and are going to use them (likely) a LOT in the next few years, then the use will dwindle, then *poof* "which one is Goofy and which one is Pluto?" They already have a problem with people trying to determine who those two old men in the balcony are...

Someone else made mention of better products. I worked at The Disney Store, and for a few years Disney had a guy from Gund designing the plush, and those plush were awesome...now, the products stink again. I can remember there for a while in 92-95 that the products and service of Disney Stores was great! But, on the whole, there isn't any other quality stuff produced by Disney. They have a horrible merchandising department! I don't have hardly any Disney stuff at all--except for a Ron Lee sculpture of Donald Duck and an expensive set of sculptures from Song of the South. I can't think of anythign else that I own except for old, old animated movies.

Back to the products thing mentioned earlier, sure we'll probably see classic Henson tins, but be ready because all you're going to likely see are going to be old pieces of work being rehashed or driven into the ground.

Eisner is in the midst of a huge coup to be ousted, and many people under him agree that he should go. he's lost the vision of what Disney is, so how could he POSSIBLY have any idea what the vision of Henson is??

Someone brought it up to me that now there is a split between the Muppets and their performers. How do you conquer this great divide now? What happens if there's a miff between Henson and Disney? Who performs the Muppets then?? Do we start sending Disney our applications in case?

Where does this leave Palisades? Where does this leave fan sites like Muppet Central and Tough Pigs? Worst of all, where does this leave US, the fans? Are we forever going to be treated to sequel after sequel, then a prequel or Lion King 1.5 version of The Muppet Movie?? Who's going to write for the Muppets now? Will any other future programming involving the Muppets end up on The Disney Channel now?

JHC has always been hands-on with the fans, very fan related (in my experience); and if you had a question about the Muppets they would respond quickly. This is now over.

I am very unhappy with this, and I can't believe that it's got me so upset that I didn't sleep last night, and my belly aches. I hope they prove me wrong, but I doubt it.

Disney=Doom.

 

[Whatever]

I cried the whole night last night instead of studying for today's Spanish test.

 

[Luke]

I'm trying real hard to find the bad in this, but I sure can't. Disney can't walk into the Palisades toys offices with a big stick and break the molds. They can't add Mickey Mouse to the cast of the Muppet Wizard of Oz. And NO, they can't shut down these websites!

Actually, they pretty much can do all those things in a way, not break molds obviously, but cause problems with Palisades or Sababas licenses or make sure they end early. I think with the websites the ones you pointed out don't really break copyright in certain ways. With the Muppets, until now there have been certain allowances that pictures can be used, and with MC that they could use the music for the radio. Also there is only really one Muppet site that really matters in our fandom, sure there is the cheaper looking alternative to Muppet Central but its more a little community thing that people might surf over to, not the central place the majority of people check for the latest news, articles and resources like this one. One independant site really being in total dominance would probably be looked on unfavorably with people like Disney, and if they wanted to be difficult i'm sure they could find things to interfere with. Not saying they will, just saying i don't think there is any guarantee they won't. I can find plenty of bads, but yeah there is the potential for a lot of good if it works out ok.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

You know what else, you'd THINK Brian and family would have figured out the Muppet Fans' feelings about Disney at MuppetFest when Amy Van Gilder said she now worked for Disney, and the ENTIRE AUDIENCE BOOed Disney!

 

[Luke]

You'd think maybe the kids would have issued a statement to staff and friends/followers of the company like Rivkin did. We haven't even had an announcement of Wizard Of Oz yet. I'll be the first to admit i could be way off base here but i've never found we got a great deal of respect from these guys.