What went wrong with Muppets from Space?

[minor muppetz]

They could have all been in the TV room fighting over what to watch on television, with Kermit saying "we got to support Piggy, so let's watch her show."

Given it was a science fiction-related movie, they could have kept changing the channel and showed clips from Henson productions about space (though considering the seperation of ownership it's probably best they didn't now). Maybe show brief clips from Farscape, Brats of the Lost Nebula, Aliens in the Family, and maybe also a Martians clip from Sesame Street and a Gorch clip from SNL.

There would have been no way a SS cameo would have been in the cards. There hasn't been a SS cameo since MTM. And the only Fraggle cameos were smaller creatures and Sprocket if you get the widescreen edition of MTI. The closest they could come for an SS cameo in MFS is something that sort of looks like the 123 Sesame Stoop. I dunno if it was a rights thing, or if it was some sort of separation at the time... but a SS cameo in any Muppet movie is impossible now.

MFS came out in 1999. EM.TV bought The Jim Henson Company in 2000, and sold off the Sesame Street characters shortly after financial problems. That's pretty much the only reason the Sesame Street characters were sold. So it's not like Henson was planning on selling those characters (I wonder when exactly Henson started to pursue selling the company).

 

[MelissaY1]

Sigh... must I mention my Bolt story again?

Kids running around the aisles, slapping me on the head until I calmly turned to the parent who preceded to discipline the stupid brat by letting him run up and down the aisles some more.

Heck, I remember one of the times I saw MFS in a theater, kids were screaming like crazy.

There are kids who behave, and kids who really shouldn't have been taken to the theaters. Either way, making a movie for a mas 3 year old and under audience wasn't such a smart move. Plus, we all have to realize it was mostly for the merchandising potential. I guess it did better on VHS and DVD where it SHOULD have gone.

I was unfamiliar with your Bolt story, Dr. Tooth...but your description is a big reason why I don't like to go see any animated/family films anymore in the theater, and I may actually wait for the Muppet film to come on DVD unless I manage to go to a perhaps later weeknight screening or something.

 

[Drtooth]

Here's the thing about waiting for DVD... everyone does it, that means less money for the movies themselves and less risk for studios to want to make. That leads to movies that are more of the same crap over and over. That's why any movie I deeply care about I try to see in theaters, even if the annoying brats and their inattentive parents are ruining the experience for me.

But then again, my TV sucks and is tiny, and usually I'd rather spend the 7-10 bucks seeing it in theaters rather than waiting months for the DVD to go cheaper... I don't have credit cards, so I can't rent.

This new movie needs all the support it can get. if we even want to see so much as T-shirts and small consumer goods (and Muppets Tonight) we need to see the film and make sure it does as good as we can make it.

 

[frogboy4]

Here's the thing about waiting for DVD... everyone does it, that means less money for the movies themselves and less risk for studios to want to make. That leads to movies that are more of the same crap over and over. That's why any movie I deeply care about I try to see in theaters, even if the annoying brats and their inattentive parents are ruining the experience for me.

But then again, my TV sucks and is tiny, and usually I'd rather spend the 7-10 bucks seeing it in theaters rather than waiting months for the DVD to go cheaper... I don't have credit cards, so I can't rent.

This new movie needs all the support it can get. if we even want to see so much as T-shirts and small consumer goods (and Muppets Tonight) we need to see the film and make sure it does as good as we can make it.

DVD has the potential to make much more money than theatrical presentations, but alas DVD (including Blu-ray to some extent) is heading for extinction because of streaming and portable devices. We are heading for an era without a hard copy of anything...including the movie poster. They're already making those digital too!

Sorry for the rant, just had to comment on that. Back to DVD, that's why people are so unruly in movie theaters. They act like they're at home watching a video. Theaters used to be spaces, like libraries, where people knew to shut up for the sake of others. No longer. Rant number two...last Friday I unintentionally scared the socks of some girl who was texting during a movie's opening credits and wouldn't turn off her phone's bright screen after the first time I asked. That is, until I moved and sat right by her and threatened to have her thrown out for doing something that is identical to continually turning on a flashlight during the movie and noisily clicking away. The sense of entitlement for today's young people becomes even worse when related to technology.

Nonetheless, all this social media can be good for films. Who cares what Ebert says when you can send out a blitz of texts to friends or post a simple facebook update and ask them about a film you intend to see?

I also think this will help when the Muppets come to ComicCon. I know they attempt to limit phones etc, but let's be serious. We'll probably get a glimpse of Fozzie Bear cracking jokes from the Con panel on YouTube and Disney should support all the viral help they can muster. *Real* viral, not manufactured.

 

[Drtooth]

That's the danger... waiting for video or DVD or whatever is one thing... DVD sales can dramatically raise a movie's potential. Plus, the price can cover a lot of special extras that translate into making more money back for every potential viewer who chose to wait, or to those who want to buy the DVD to watch over and over again.

But with cheap downloads and RedBox... that's going to change movies in a VERY negative way. They'll only make movies specifically for downloads, and that means low budget crapfests for a gamer heavy demographic. A DTV movie at least makes up what it cost if the DVD's sell well enough. A LOT of Downloads have to happen to make up a movie's budget.

But the box office is still fairly important. And in the case of a franchise bought up by a major company, the worry is that if the movie doesn't make a good BO and DVD sale, well... we'll see the Muppets shoves in the back of the closet with the rest of the Saban stuff and the Disney Afternoon shows. And I don't think a single felt blooded Muppet fan wants to see that happen.

 

[JJandJanice]

and a bad release date sandwiched in a competitive summer...

That's one I don't think gets bought up enough when discussing the (from a commerical stand-point at least) failure of MFS. It had some really REALLY stiff competition at the box office including South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, The Wild Wild West (with Will Smith, which was a god awful movie, but did super well) and, maybe the biggest killer of them all, Star Wars: Episode I.

Sorry to say, but MFS didn't have the guns to go aganist all that, it would be like bring a rock to a gun fight.

 

[Drtooth]

That's one I don't think gets bought up enough when discussing the (from a commerical stand-point at least) failure of MFS. It had some really REALLY stiff competition at the box office including South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, The Wild Wild West (with Will Smith, which was a god awful movie, but did super well) and, maybe the biggest killer of them all, Star Wars: Episode I.

Sorry to say, but MFS didn't have the guns to go aganist all that, it would be like bring a rock to a gun fight.

That was brought up... but let's not also forget Tarzan... don't know how well that did, but unlike the others (forgot Austin Powers too), it was a distinctly family film.. and the flopola Inspector Gadget and Dudley Do-Right just added to the mix. Very competitive. And had they waited for Thanksgiving, Toy Story 2 would have shellacked them as well. There was NO good time for the movie. Bad or not, you can't tell a movie's realy bad unless you read reviews or see the movie yourself.

That said, both times I saw it in the second run theater? Place was packed.

 

[MelissaY1]

Here's the thing about waiting for DVD... everyone does it, that means less money for the movies themselves and less risk for studios to want to make. That leads to movies that are more of the same crap over and over. That's why any movie I deeply care about I try to see in theaters, even if the annoying brats and their inattentive parents are ruining the experience for me.

But then again, my TV sucks and is tiny, and usually I'd rather spend the 7-10 bucks seeing it in theaters rather than waiting months for the DVD to go cheaper... I don't have credit cards, so I can't rent.

This new movie needs all the support it can get. if we even want to see so much as T-shirts and small consumer goods (and Muppets Tonight) we need to see the film and make sure it does as good as we can make it.

I understand what you're saying, but like the poster below ya said home video has the potential to make the studio a lot of it's money back. Look how many movies in general have bombed their first run in theaters but made tons of money on DVD. I totally want to support the Muppets but if I have to deal with people who don't know how to conduct themselves in public no matter what age, to me, that's a problem I don't have to deal with if I don't want to. I'll buy the film on DVD and they'll still get my money, and the cost of going to the movies today costs as much as buying a DVD anyway.

I have a Netflix account so I can easily rent it too....

 

[MelissaY1]

DVD has the potential to make much more money than theatrical presentations, but alas DVD (including Blu-ray to some extent) is heading for extinction because of streaming and portable devices. We are heading for an era without a hard copy of anything...including the movie poster. They're already making those digital too!

Sorry for the rant, just had to comment on that. Back to DVD, that's why people are so unruly in movie theaters. They act like they're at home watching a video. Theaters used to be spaces, like libraries, where people knew to shut up for the sake of others. No longer. Rant number two...last Friday I unintentionally scared the socks of some girl who was texting during a movie's opening credits and wouldn't turn off her phone's bright screen after the first time I asked. That is, until I moved and sat right by her and threatened to have her thrown out for doing something that is identical to continually turning on a flashlight during the movie and noisily clicking away. The sense of entitlement for today's young people becomes even worse when related to technology.

Nonetheless, all this social media can be good for films. Who cares what Ebert says when you can send out a blitz of texts to friends or post a simple facebook update and ask them about a film you intend to see?

I also think this will help when the Muppets come to ComicCon. I know they attempt to limit phones etc, but let's be serious. We'll probably get a glimpse of Fozzie Bear cracking jokes from the Con panel on YouTube and Disney should support all the viral help they can muster. *Real* viral, not manufactured.

Good for you for intimidating the girl at the movies. That stuff drives me crazy. Unless you're a doctor on call, saving someone's life, there is no reason to be sitting in a movie theater, that you and everyone else paid anywhere from $7-20 bucks to get in to text and chat and Twitter and all this other stuff.

You're right people have no consideration for others, no sense of personal space, and my favorite, the people on the cell phones who just as the film's starting pick up their phone with the ringer still turned on saying "YEAH I'm at the movies...yeah" and have a whole conversation. Get up and walk out if you MUST take that call.

I also agree this movie will still get a boat load of publicity. It's a Disney film so they jam all their own stuff down people's throats as it is, with all the social networking sites there's tons of promotional gimmicks and things they can do to hype this up. Believe me, me waiting for the DVD release isn't going to hurt this film.

 

[minor muppetz]

That was brought up... but let's not also forget Tarzan... don't know how well that did, but unlike the others (forgot Austin Powers too), it was a distinctly family film.. and the flopola Inspector Gadget and Dudley Do-Right just added to the mix.

I thought Inspector Gadget did a lot better than Muppets From Space (though it didn't deserve the better box office profits).