Rumor: New Sesame Street Movie in the Works

[Drtooth]

I hate to say it, but I think this project is most certainly dead - or it'll be a long time before we see it. Since the announcement, Sesame has gone through some major transitions and I really doubt the team is really ready to do a theatrical film.

There's always a lull in between a project's announcement and it's development. When they announced plans for the movie, they didn't say they even had the barest of a plot. There needs to be time to get a working script in order. Not to mention the fact that they're filming a Muppet movie just now. I'm guessing it's going to be a while for a slight update. If the film really is dead in the water, it's going to be some time before we hear that news anyway.

If anything is going to kill this project, I doubt it really has to do with Kevin. More likely Fox looked at the box office of the previous two films and wept openly. As much as we loved FTB, that film didn't make all that much. EIG made even less.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

If anything is going to kill this project, I doubt it really has to do with Kevin. More likely Fox looked at the box office of the previous two films and wept openly. As much as we loved FTB, that film didn't make all that much. EIG made even less.

That was a factor I've noticed since this project was announced. With the proper marketing on Fox's behalf, a new Sesame movie could be a modest success, but I can't see a Sesame movie crossing $50 million domestically, maybe even $40 million.

That said, I don't think we'll ever really understand why Follow That Bird underperformed the way it did. Though it seems like Warner Brothers wasn't going to give this movie a big push anyway. Just looking at theater counts for all of WB's 1985 movies, Follow That Bird's release was pretty small. A re-release of Gremlins that came out the same month was playing in more theaters in it's first weekend. I think WB just dumped it as a schedule filler for August. Even 15 years later, they still didn't learn their lesson (Iron Giant).

Elmo in Grouchland was a victim of bad timing and Sony's incompetence. I remember Grouchland came out when there was a huge slew of movies based on kids' shows that year hot off the heels of The Rugrats Movie being the monster hit it was. That and the Barney movie was still fairly fresh in parent's minds, surely as much respected a kids' franchise Sesame is than Barney, parents weren't about to spend more money for a movie based on a show from the same network. Sony didn't help by giving the movie such a limited release and interfering with the film the way they did.

 

[Drtooth]

FTB was the victim of the "we refuse to pay 10 bucks to watch something we can watch at home for free" mindset. The Simpsons had one movie and one animated short. Dragonball has 18. Cultural differences. The most a TV show had as far as movies in the US was Rugrats with 3 (technically 2 and a half, as it was a cross over, but you get the idea). But FTB was vindicated by history, and made it's money on home video and became a classic.

EIG was an example of the perfect, infallible idea being a failure because of how flawless it was. Elmo's popularity just started taking off, fresh on the heels of the TMX craze. There is no way the film should have failed, but it did. It was for an audience of kids that are, in general, too young to see and appreciate movies. Not to mention the fact that, again, we can watch Elmo for free at home. It made money on home video, which if it was a DTV project (it certainly had the look, unlike the lush realistic scene shoots of FTB), that would have been a good thing.

I've no doubt that Fox's marketing would launch the film into, at least a make the money back and change modesty that The Muppets had. The problem is, what the heck are we going to do about a plot? Especially of a show that's been on 40 years. That's probably what's holding this project back. A story worthy of a 90 minute plotline.

 

[Oscarfan]

There was an interview with Joey Mazzarino about a month ago (it's on Vimeo, but it doesn't allow embedding) and he was asked about the possibility of a SST movie. He doesn't mention them being in the process of one, but acts really excited at the idea of one. So, the project may be on hold or cancelled.

 

[Drtooth]

There was an interview with Joey Mazzarino about a month ago (it's on Vimeo, but it doesn't allow embedding) and he was asked about the possibility of a SST movie. He doesn't mention them being in the process of one, but acts really excited at the idea of one. So, the project may be on hold or cancelled.

Unless this project never got to the licensing stage. I wonder if Fox announced plans for a Sesame Street movie but never contacted Sesame Workshop for the intent to make one. I've heard of this happening before. Announcing a project before either before the production company acquires the rights to or realizing they never had those rights in the first place.

 

[D'Snowth]

Epic fail.

That's all I have to say.

Talk about a let down.

 

[Oscarfan]

Well, it certainly didn't help that one of the main cogs in their clock left.

 

[D'Snowth]

True, but there is that old saying, "The show must go on"; after all, they could have let Jim's passing be a stumbling block for them, but they pressed on, Jim would have wanted it that way, and I think Kevin would want to them to continue on and not let what happened to him become a stumbling block for them as well.

 

[Drtooth]

Something tells me negotiations fell through pretty early on, at least Fox backing out. I'm sure if the film even went to the drawing tables Joey would have heard about it one way or another. The fact that someone that's pretty high up doesn't know what's going on says this movie wasn't going to happen in the first place.

 

[minor muppetz]

FTB was the victim of the "we refuse to pay 10 bucks to watch something we can watch at home for free" mindset.

I can't believe that mindset exists. Yeah, they can watch the show at home for free, but not that particular story (or they have to wait... and people will have to wait a lot longer to see it on TV than buying the DVD).