JHC and HIT establish worldwide distribution and production venture

[beaker]

Its comforting to know that the remnant corpse of JHC is still able to do some deals...my how Ive been wanting to see Hoobs...not to mention see that a new generation is exposed to Fraggle Rock. I stillsay HIT stands for Henson International

 

[Chad Kermit]

I had no idea that Emmet was not part of the Disney deal. I guess I was thinking they had all the specials. I knew of course about the other shows and films not going to Henson. Could this mean we may be seeing a line of Emmet toys and Christmas related products? I hope they can market Emmet to become more of a well known Christmas classic. It's better than some of the Rakin and Bass productions. Looks like all of the Henson properties will be milked for all they are worth. That's a good thing of course.

Chad

 

[Luke]

I think this will be like the EMTV thing though - more emphasis on Europe than America. If you look at HIT's current stuff, Thomas is probably the only one they have really developed well overseas. Angelina and Bob do ok over there, Barney hasn't been handled that well since they got it although it was already doing ok in the states and i would guess you guys aren't familiar with Pingu. Hopefully adding Henson to their portfolio will help change that but they do seem to have always been a UK company with international ambitions rather than a worldwide company.

 

[Whatever]

But anything is possible.

Have you been taking lessons from Ken?

 

[King Prawn]

This is great news, I scrolled to the bottom first to make sure it wasn't an Aprils fool joke. Anyway I am surprised to see Emmett on that list but if you think about it if they edit the first few seconds (which they will have too) which has Kermit in it the rest would not really have anything to do with the Muppets ( ).
Like the rest of you I don't want to get all excited about FR DVD's and stuff like that but I can't help myself. I doubt they'll remake FR so now that they own them what else is left for them to do than to market them: DVD's, toys and stuff like that. I'm really excited and happy about this. Had the Muppets not been sold to Disney I would have been dissapointed but since it seems like they are all moving around I'm happy to see where they've gone.

I actually thought they were gonna fade away slowly, that Henson would continue making new projects but forget about these old ones. I just hope FR finally gets the respect it deserves.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I thought it was interesting that they got "Emmet Otter's Jug-band Christmas", even though it features Kermit, now property of the Walt Disney Company. You would think by the release that Emmet was a series not a one-shot special.

It's probably a safe bet the original version of Emmett (with Kermit) will never see the light of day again.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

Why? I don't see why just because Kermit is in these Henson-owned specials and SS/FR stars are in these now Disney-owned Muppet specials, that they have to dramatically cut these things up. I can understand why Disney could not use the "Jim Henson" brand name, but not this. If there's any Henson insiders here, these are questions that should be asked.

 

[Luke]

Out of interest why can you automatically understand why Disney could not use the Jim Henson brand name ? EMTV never bought the Jim Henson brand name, just the company (which included his name in the title) yet their agreement with the Henson family still allowed them to use his name. The Henson's could have easily made EMTV change the name. The reason why Disney are not using the name 'Jim Henson' is either because they do not want to, or the Henson's do not want them to. If both parties wanted i'm sure it could be arranged.

 

[dwayne1115]

Here is my problem with all this that has happend i dont know who belongs to who, or why it should even matter. I loved it when Jim was around all the stuff that JHC did was JHC"s. no qustions asked. Big Brid and Oscar could be in the muppet movies and nothing would be said. why they had the whole muppet SS cast in MTM. i say that all the "classic " muppet incuding Fragles and MB should be together. now for the newer things that another story. could there be a way that would work or is it even posibal.

Also what does that mean for people like Keven Clash who has roles with SS and the Disny muppets iwho is he really working for now? im so confused somone help me.

 

[Jennifer12]

Also what does that mean for people like Keven Clash who has roles with SS and the Disny muppets iwho is he really working for now? im so confused somone help me.

I'd imagine that Kevin Clash and the rest of the puppeteers are paid on a contracted per-project basis. Sesame Street pays him to do Elmo, and Disney would pay him to preform Clifford. Kind of like a movie star. One studio pays for the actor to do one role, but that doesn't preclude him from playing a different role in a different movie. I don't know if the Muppet performers like to be called actors, but that is essentially what they are, although in a much more technical/artistic capacity.

Jennifer