Muppet Movie Rights Questions

[Mistersuperstar]

Copyrights are confusing. TMTM is owned by Sony except for the characters which are owned by Disney except for Sesame characters that are owned by the Sesame Workshop and Fraggles who are owned by Henson. No wonder we won't see the likes of "A Celebration Of 30 Years" released on DVD! Too many copyright issues.

 

[minor muppetz]

I think that Disney does have some ownership of the Muppet movies that are owned by other companies. I believe that if Henson had any stakes in the films, Disney got them, but other companies have the distribution rights. It's a good thing that Disney doesn't seem to have a problem with the Muppet movies that are owned by other companies being released. All of the Muppet movies owned by Sony are still available on DVD (in both a three pack and individually). I don't know about whether It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie is still in print. I think it's only been broadcast once since Disney got the rights to the Muppets, but I remember last year somebody posted a thread saying that that person had found several copies of the DVD last year. I wondered if maybe they were leftover copies form the previous year, but that member said that he or she couldn't find very many copies the previous year.

Then again, I think the Muppets were originally licensed to those companies for the movies, and Disney would probably get any residuals anyway, but for somethign like Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, Jim Henson owned the rights to both Kermit and the special, so it wasn't really a licensed appearance. I hope that there aren't any such problems with any variety show or talk show appearances.

But maybe I am wrong about all this. It's great that the non-Disney Mupet movies are widely available on DVD. I know that for a long time the only Popeye videos and DVds available were public domain releases, and Warner Bros. had been trying to negotiate a deal with King Features to release the Popeye shorts on DVD. MGM once attempted to release a Popeye video, but King Features wouldn't allow it. And I've read that the reason why the original Batman series hasn't been released on video or DVD is because the series is owned by Fox, and after the series was made, Warner Bros. bought the character rights to Batman, and apparantly the show currently can't be released commercially (though the 1960s Batman movie can). But on the other hand, back when MGM owned the rights to the pre-1948 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts, MGM was able to release Looney Tunes vidoes and laserdiscs. WB didn't seem to mind it's characters being released on videos released by another company.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

The Henson Company and Sony owned MTM, MFS and Kermit's Swamp Years 50/50. When Disney bought the Muppets, they received Henson's share in the film so they do own the rights to the film, but Sony owns the distribution rights. So if Disney wanted to show MTM on Disney Channel, they can, they just can't release it on DVD.

 

[Mistersuperstar]

Having said that, if Sony wanted to release a special edition of TMTM, Disney would probably own the rights for any extra footage or behind the scenes stuff. Sony would only own the distribution rights to the original main feature.

On another note, ever noticed that TMTM is the only Muppet movie to have not been recorded in Dolby or at least stereo sound? It's only ever been available in mono.

 

[minor muppetz]

The Henson Company and Sony owned MTM, MFS and Kermit's Swamp Years 50/50. When Disney bought the Muppets, they received Henson's share in the film so they do own the rights to the film, but Sony owns the distribution rights. So if Disney wanted to show MTM on Disney Channel, they can, they just can't release it on DVD.

I wonder if it really is that easy for Disney to show it on The Disney Channel or ABC Family. After all, The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, and Muppets From Space weren't ever shown on The Odyssey Chanel back when Henson had ownership in the network.

I wonder if cable networks ever have to make any special deals to show certain movies owned by other companies multiple times during a certain period of time, in a way similar to how cable channels make certain deals to show reruns of shows they don't own for a period of time. Same with specials. I know that The Disney Channel has shown all of the theatrically-released Muppet movies before Disney owned the Muppets, and most of those were shown multiple times during the same month. The Disney Channel has also shown The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, The Witches, Follow That Bird, and I think Buddy.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

I wonder if it really is that easy for Disney to show it on The Disney Channel or ABC Family. After all, The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, and Muppets From Space weren't ever shown on The Odyssey Chanel back when Henson had ownership in the network.

Well, technically, Sony and Henson owned the distribution rights to those movies. TMM and GMC were owned 100% by Henson.

I wonder if cable networks ever have to make any special deals to show certain movies owned by other companies multiple times during a certain period of time, in a way similar to how cable channels make certain deals to show reruns of shows they don't own for a period of time. Same with specials. I know that The Disney Channel has shown all of the theatrically-released Muppet movies before Disney owned the Muppets, and most of those were shown multiple times during the same month. The Disney Channel has also shown The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, The Witches, Follow That Bird, and I think Buddy.

In terms of cable networks, Disney Channel had a package of G and PG Warner Brothers which explains Follow that Bird and The Witches. But other then that, I'm sure Disney had deals with everybody to show their programming. I really have no idea.

 

[minor muppetz]

In terms of cable networks, Disney Channel had a package of G and PG Warner Brothers which explains Follow that Bird and The Witches. But other then that, I'm sure Disney had deals with everybody to show their programming. I really have no idea.

It's a bit amazing that The Disney Channel has shown movies from Warner Brothers. Heck, I find it amazing that Disney has shown some of the Looney Tunes compilation movies in the past.

And also, it seems like long ago, Disney showed a lot of movies, specials, and television shows from other companies, but these days, most networks mostly just show programming that's owned by the companies that own the channels.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

It's a bit amazing that The Disney Channel has shown movies from Warner Brothers. Heck, I find it amazing that Disney has shown some of the Looney Tunes compilation movies in the past.

And also, it seems like long ago, Disney showed a lot of movies, specials, and television shows from other companies, but these days, most networks mostly just show programming that's owned by the companies that own the channels.

Well, back then, the Disney Channel was sort of an HBO-type channel which only happened to be owned by Disney compared to nowadays where's it's nothing but Disney. But the notion of Disney showing Looney Tunes movies is unbelievably crazy.

 

[Muppet Frog]

How come MGM released the DVD of It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie if NBC has the rights to that film?

 

[D'Snowth]

How come MGM released the DVD of It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie if NBC has the rights to that film?

More than likely, there's a common ownership between the two, much like the Disney Company owns ABC (Tom Bergeron mentioned this on AFV by explaining he was able to make jokes about Mickey Mouse, Goofy, etc without paying royalties).