The Official " Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever" thread

[fozzieisfunny]

Hello, guys!! Now, I have read Jim Henson: The Biography quite a couple of times now, and I have found out a Muppet movie that never made it past its ( screenplay? idea?) stage. What just went on over there was my first problem with it: Did it never make it past its screenplay or idea stage?

My second question is did it even have anyone besides Kermit and Gonzo in it?

My third and final question is does anybody know of any merchandise that it had ( including the screenplay)? Hope you guys can help! Bye!

 

[dwayne1115]

From what I can recall without looking anything up (lazy). The 2011 movie "The Muppets" was originally going to be called "The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made."
Then they changed it,which I'm glad because if it had nothing to do with Jim and Jerry's script then that would not be right.
After the success of "The Muppets" there was rumors that long time Muppet writer Jim Lewis and Frank Oz where working on that screenplay, but Disney went with the writers of "The Muppets" instead.
As far as details of the screenplay now, I'm not sure anyone knows except for someone on the inside.

Also normally merch for a movie dose not start popping out till after the movie it'self has been filmed and produced.

Hope that helps....

 

[Muppet Master]

Hello, guys!! Now, I have read Jim Henson: The Biography quite a couple of times now, and I have found out a Muppet movie that never made it past its ( screenplay? idea?) stage. What just went on over there was my first problem with it: Did it never make it past its screenplay or idea stage?

My second question is did it even have anyone besides Kermit and Gonzo in it?

My third and final question is does anybody know of any merchandise that it had ( including the screenplay)? Hope you guys can help! Bye!

Well, it was teased by Jim way back in '87 when he told the press about MFC he said he was planning on making this new muppet movie, which they wanted out in '89. Then the disney deal problems began, and oh my gosh it ruined the film. By the time Jim passed they had gotten nowhere with it. Anyways, it probably belonged on DTV, because the concept is a little too unique, and unfortunately I think even if it had been released that it would've bombed at the box office but become a cult classic like TDC. It was a little too wacky for the silver screen, but who know what the final project would be like, but they wouldn't need a very big budget considering at one point the film is reduced to storyboard outlines. Actually I think Disney should turn it into a 10 min. short, because it really needs to see the light of day, and that without Jim or Juhl, I don't think it'd work on the big screen.

 

[fozzieisfunny]

I still think it could work as a short before one of the big feature films you were meant to see. ( Like they are doing now. Actually, I really enjoyed Mickey Mouse: Get A Horse! before the movie Frozen.)

 

[minor muppetz]

Also normally merch for a movie dose not start popping out till after the movie it'self has been filmed and produced.

Although the unproduced Muppets in Space got merchandise (Welch's juice jars) around the time it was announced.

In Jim Henson: The Biography, it says that the movie ended with Gonzo getting corporate funding, allowing for it to be produced in high definition... But I didn't think high definition existed back in the 1980s.

I don't think the movie was canceled because of the Disney deal (though I would imagine The Jim Henson Hour might have delayed work on the film). When Jerry Juhl talked about this in a Muppet Central review he said that the movie would have been too expensive to produce.

 

[dwayne1115]

There is a video on YouTube with Jim Talking about HD. I'll look and see if I can find it.

 

[fozzieisfunny]

Well, being expensive is one of the main reasons they didn't make it. ( P.S. I just thought of a new idea: It could possibly make it as one of those Disney World simulators.)