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GLENDALE, Calif. -- Kermit the Frog dangles by his spindly legs in the hallway of a Walt Disney Co. office here, his red-felt mouth slightly ajar and his ping-pong ball eyes staring blankly at the floor.
Like so many aging stars, the iconic Muppet has struggled in recent years to find a role for himself, only to be relegated to ancient re-runs and B-list movies.
Now, Disney is making a bid to return Kermit to stardom.
After a marathon courtship, Disney last year added Kermit and his co-stars from the 1970s television hit, “The Muppet Show,” to its coterie of characters for the seemingly modest sum of around $75 million. Done right, Disney thinks Kermit’s troupe could become a classic like Mickey Mouse.
“I’ve always been convinced that there are three real characters that have enduring entertainment value, that are evergreens: Mickey, Winnie and Kermit,” says Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner.
The big challenge: making the 50-year-old frog relevant to today’s audiences.
Disney’s plan is to start by dusting off Kermit, Miss Piggy and other Muppets with a “soft” launch designed to appeal to a nostaglic adult audience.
The first test was May 20 with “The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz,” a made-for-television movie, on Disney’s ABC network, starring Kermit as a singing and dancing Scarecrow, Miss Piggy as the witches, the R&B singer Ashanti as Dorothy, and Pepe the Prawn in the role of her dog, Toto.
In the runup to the movie, Disney primed Muppets fans in their 20s, 30s and 40s with cameo appearances meant to restore some of the original TV show’s hip, irreverent lustre.
In December, for instance, Kermit appeared alongside Robert De Niro on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” and ABC ran a series of ads for the coming “Oz” movie featuring the characters in scenes based on its hit shows “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost.”
In the works for summer: a line of retro-hip Muppets apparel, including green T-shirts with glitter-encrusted images of Kermit. And Disney will trot out various TV shows, such as “America’s Next Muppet,” a reality-style contest in which new characters vie for a spot in the Muppets lineup.
After the characters find their feet, Disney plans a “hard” launch, broadening the appeal to a wider audience including younger children, starting with a feature film in 2007.
Then, if everything goes to plan, the floodgates will open to such things as stage plays, ring tones, theme-park attractions, TV specials and a possible relaunch of “The Muppet Show” itself. “This is franchise that will ultimately appeal to most age groups,” said Chris Curtin, general manager of Disney’s Muppets Holding Co.
The heart of Disney’s strategy is to take the Muppets back to their roots in the TV show, in which Kermit sang classics such as “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” and fended off Miss Piggy’s advances.
When Jim Henson created the Muppets in the 1950s, he pitched them for adults, albeit with a child-friendly tone.
After appearances on shows such as “The Ed Sullivan Show,” Kermit the Frog became a star on “Sesame Street,” which went on the air in 1969. After “The Muppet Show” started airing in 1976, Kermit made fewer “Sesame Street” appearances, although other Muppets, such as Bert and Ernie, remained as mainstays of the educational show.
Since Henson’s death in 1990, however, “The Muppet Show” characters have been increasingly directed at children — a strategic turn many people blame for their recent flops.
The question now is how far Disney is willing to push the boundary — especially in an era when a movie like “Team America” last year featured puppets engaging in behavior that would have been unspeakable 25 years ago.
Disney envisions the Muppets occupying a space similar to that of Pixar Animation Studios’ animated fare or TV’s “The Simpsons.” With one caveat: “They’ll stay away from politics and religion,” Mr. Eisner says. “The Muppets have a certain modicum of innuendo. They’re not gratuitous.”
Like so many aging stars, the iconic Muppet has struggled in recent years to find a role for himself, only to be relegated to ancient re-runs and B-list movies.
Now, Disney is making a bid to return Kermit to stardom.
After a marathon courtship, Disney last year added Kermit and his co-stars from the 1970s television hit, “The Muppet Show,” to its coterie of characters for the seemingly modest sum of around $75 million. Done right, Disney thinks Kermit’s troupe could become a classic like Mickey Mouse.
“I’ve always been convinced that there are three real characters that have enduring entertainment value, that are evergreens: Mickey, Winnie and Kermit,” says Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner.
The big challenge: making the 50-year-old frog relevant to today’s audiences.
Disney’s plan is to start by dusting off Kermit, Miss Piggy and other Muppets with a “soft” launch designed to appeal to a nostaglic adult audience.
The first test was May 20 with “The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz,” a made-for-television movie, on Disney’s ABC network, starring Kermit as a singing and dancing Scarecrow, Miss Piggy as the witches, the R&B singer Ashanti as Dorothy, and Pepe the Prawn in the role of her dog, Toto.
In the runup to the movie, Disney primed Muppets fans in their 20s, 30s and 40s with cameo appearances meant to restore some of the original TV show’s hip, irreverent lustre.
In December, for instance, Kermit appeared alongside Robert De Niro on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” and ABC ran a series of ads for the coming “Oz” movie featuring the characters in scenes based on its hit shows “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost.”
In the works for summer: a line of retro-hip Muppets apparel, including green T-shirts with glitter-encrusted images of Kermit. And Disney will trot out various TV shows, such as “America’s Next Muppet,” a reality-style contest in which new characters vie for a spot in the Muppets lineup.
After the characters find their feet, Disney plans a “hard” launch, broadening the appeal to a wider audience including younger children, starting with a feature film in 2007.
Then, if everything goes to plan, the floodgates will open to such things as stage plays, ring tones, theme-park attractions, TV specials and a possible relaunch of “The Muppet Show” itself. “This is franchise that will ultimately appeal to most age groups,” said Chris Curtin, general manager of Disney’s Muppets Holding Co.
The heart of Disney’s strategy is to take the Muppets back to their roots in the TV show, in which Kermit sang classics such as “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” and fended off Miss Piggy’s advances.
When Jim Henson created the Muppets in the 1950s, he pitched them for adults, albeit with a child-friendly tone.
After appearances on shows such as “The Ed Sullivan Show,” Kermit the Frog became a star on “Sesame Street,” which went on the air in 1969. After “The Muppet Show” started airing in 1976, Kermit made fewer “Sesame Street” appearances, although other Muppets, such as Bert and Ernie, remained as mainstays of the educational show.
Since Henson’s death in 1990, however, “The Muppet Show” characters have been increasingly directed at children — a strategic turn many people blame for their recent flops.
The question now is how far Disney is willing to push the boundary — especially in an era when a movie like “Team America” last year featured puppets engaging in behavior that would have been unspeakable 25 years ago.
Disney envisions the Muppets occupying a space similar to that of Pixar Animation Studios’ animated fare or TV’s “The Simpsons.” With one caveat: “They’ll stay away from politics and religion,” Mr. Eisner says. “The Muppets have a certain modicum of innuendo. They’re not gratuitous.”
