The date Muppet fans will forever remember

[dwmckim]

Mark November 24 2009 in the Muppet history books. I honestly think when it comes right down to it, Tuesday was The Official Start Date of The Muppet Renaissance.

D23 was a nice preview of Disney's commitment to going ahead big time with the Muppets brand and we've had some neat little treats here and there but Tuesday really felt like Day 1 of Muppets Relaunch. Muppets Studio launched both its official Youtube channel and Twitter page, The Muppets were on the Dancing With the Stars season finale, the Letters to Santa soundtrack was released and of course the Bohemian Rhapsody video - i'm sure everyone on Team Muppet knew this was going to be something special but did anyone think the response would be as overwhelming as it turned out to be? The Muppets were on top of the world!

Hot off its heels are Kermit's Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade appearance and subsequent music video/single, TWO network tv airings of LTS, the Give a day promotion continues as does the comic lines (Muppet Peter Pan #3 which came out today is incredible by the way!) and their next Extreme Makeover appearance should be coming up soon (and many of the Muppets themselves have had makeovers of their own). Though not currently a part of Muppets Studios, their cousins the Sesame Street Muppets are still riding its 40th anniversary wave, and something tells me we're about to see a steady stream of Muppet treats and surprises steadily rolling out from here on in.

Ladies and gentlefrogs, it has arrived and only just begun.

 

[Gelfling Girl]

Yaaaaaaaaaaay!

 

[beaker]

Good to see someone commenting on what's going on.

For the last two weeks you couldnt go on any channel or website without seeing some mention of Sesame Street. For a whole week Sesame characters hijacked the #1 websiite online: google.com
Every single news channel: MSNBC/NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, TV Guide, etc featured coverage. Every top foreign news channel(France, Mexico, Spain, Japan, etc) Just recently a new Muppet debuted on Bill O'reilly on Fox News making fun of him.

Then it became apparent Disney was going full blast with the "volunteer and get a free day at a Disney park" campaign...with ads all over tv, many top newstand magazines, heavily featured on all of Disney's sites. Kermit finally got his own endcap section at all Disney mall stores. And it became clear, that Disney is using the Muppets as the main driving tool for their 2010 promotion campaign.

Then came Bohemian Rhapsody...now I check many blogs, websites, forums, etc daily(eh, what can I say?) relating to everything from sci fi, gaming, anime, politics, 80's cartoons, you name it...and everywhere I go people are talking about this. It's insane.

Disney has truly tapped into something here, and between this and Muppets.com it's clear it is DARN TIME for a new tv series and a new movie, and an insane push not seen since the late 1970's.

I for one now have to say; that I could not be more happy than the Muppets flew the JHC coup and are with Disney. And the way this Bohemian song is trending and playing out, you can darn well bet Disney is taking notice and perhaps ramping up things.

 

[dwmckim]

Well, the major Muppet comeback is not just being noticed by fans and bloggers, but also major enteratainment media. Look for People Magazine's Best of 2009 issue to name The Muppets as Comeback of the Year (not bad considering that their last Big Project was technically in 2008 - but as we all know, Disney's kept the momentum up especially this past month-this past week alone!)

 

[frogboy4]

It took a year to get the ball rolling, but this is the Disney-promised push folks. It will be hard to miss Kermit & company in 2010.

 

[theprawncracker]

This is SO exciting. What an amazing time to be a Muppet fan. Look at all of the stuff Jim Hill says we can look forward too the rest of this year and next year!

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_h...iacom+(JimHillMedia.com)&utm_content=FaceBook

 

[SesameKermie]

I wonder if part of the Muppet push would be releasing previous Muppet Christmas specials on DVD--Great Santa Clause Switch, "A Christmas Together" with John Denver, etc. I've found them on you-tube, but I'd really like to see them remastered and whatnot and done with Disney's usual panache.

 

[beaker]

..looks like Disney is going all out to push the Muppets in every available media as we head into 2010.

 

[beaker]

It took a year to get the ball rolling, but this is the Disney-promised push folks. It will be hard to miss Kermit & company in 2010.

Im sure we'll have people on here complaining next year that "there's just way too much Muppet stuff...you cant go anywhere without seeing something Muppet related!"

heh. Man, I feel utterly embarrassed with how I jumped on the anti Disney buyout bandwagon 2001-2004. Disney is doing what the JHC obviously could not even begin to do.

 

[Drtooth]

heh. Man, I feel utterly embarrassed with how I jumped on the anti Disney buyout bandwagon 2001-2004. Disney is doing what the JHC obviously could not even begin to do.

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. While all this epicness is going on, Dark Crystal 2 and Fraggle Rock (which is mostly Weinstine's fault, as far as I'm concerned) are sitting in a closet begging to be made, but aren't.

Honestly, count me as one of the fans that felt the total relauch started with LTS, which lead to a chain of amazing events... comics, web videos, and all that. Sure, we had a few muppet projects here and there... that Muppet Christmas album, and all that... but after Disney decided to launch the franchise under their ownership with the rushed Oz film, we had to sit by patiently (and in my case, Impatiently) for them to get things going again. Added to the fact that there was multiple management changes (Dw posted it on the Bohemian Rhapsody thread), and that inane writer's strike (I was pretty annoyed by both sides, but mostly the corporations)... we had a tough go.

But things are back in business and we're getting a HUGE push for the inevitable movie. And this pre-hype session (something new I've noticed) can drum up enough buzz for the movies to not only get made, but be successful. I'm seeing Smurf and Marvin the Martian stuff popping up again, clearly to coincide with their respective projects...