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View Full Version : Muppets will NOT be taking over DCA



DaddyB
05-07-2003, 02:03 PM
So, the Henson family is buying back their heritage from EM.TV... good for them! Sold it originally for a lot more, didn't they?

Anyway, I just wanted to wish them luck and strongly urge them to STAY AWAY FROM DISNEY! I can't say Disney has had the greatest relationship with their business partners.

I wonder what this will mean for "Muppet 3d"???

Tref
05-07-2003, 03:47 PM
Originally posted by DaddyB
So, the Henson family is buying back their heritage from EM.TV... good for them! Sold it originally for a lot more, didn't they?

Anyway, I just wanted to wish them luck and strongly urge them to STAY AWAY FROM DISNEY! I can't say Disney has had the greatest relationship with their business partners.

I wonder what this will mean for "Muppet 3d"???

Well, I'll say this, good for the Henson kids ... I think the ONLY relationship they should have with Disney is one that aims to advance the art, as Disney has with Pixar. Create new films with new characters and leave the original Muppets to their creatours.

Much (or some) of this has been already been discussed within the loose confines of this thread:

http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14789[/URL]

I remain,

Lost Boy
05-07-2003, 08:44 PM
Disney Boy also posted the news very early this morning over in the general entertainment section of the forums. I just read the entire story on the headline news portion of my Earthlink Home Page and I am just thrilled by this news. Not only does this buyback include The Creature Factory (which Disney did not want - which only sends a loud and clear message that the only thing Disney was interested in was merchandising the heck out of the Muppets) and Brian Henson has rejoined the company. I think we are going to see some exiting new Muppet and other Henson creative things coming along. To be honest, at this point, I am crying for joy that Kermy and the gang are truly coming home. Where they belong. Yea to the Henson Family. :D :D :D

MammaSilva
05-07-2003, 09:31 PM
We watched The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper and the Muppets Take Manhattan in honor of todays events!

Covnut
05-07-2003, 10:38 PM
I wonder what this will mean for "Muppet 3d"??? Probably nothing different. Isn't it under a different contract?

justagrrl
05-08-2003, 06:21 AM
Oh Goody. I was raised in a Muppet Loving family. My Dad really likes Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew (that's his name isn't it?)

It would be great to see some new muppet stuff.

Disney Boy
05-08-2003, 07:49 AM
I noticed in the full news story published in the major newspapers this morining that the Henson family has been sitting and watching all the bidding and stuff going on and when it got to where it did, they figured enough is enough and made the offer which they have been secretly working on for several months. Of course, they issued a statement that they had no hard feelings with the Disney Company and had nothing but the highest regard for Disney. Yea, right. They had to say that. Disney distributes the Muppet Videos. The have a major attraction in two (or is it three) theme parks. I wonder how sniffed Michael will be about having the kids snatch his prize from under his nose. I wonder if Disney will continue to distribute the videos and other things like that. This could get to be a very interesting scenerio to watch play out over the coming months. But I am so happy about this.:D

tabacco
05-08-2003, 07:54 AM
Disney only distributes some of them. The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Great Muppet Caper, and a couple of others were distributed by Columbia Tristar, which is probably why Sony was trying to get into the bidding :)

Baloo
05-08-2003, 11:10 PM
well just because the Henson bought the muppets back it does not mean that Disney still can not use the characters. The Henson company is not strong enough to explioit its characeters and getting them out into the public like they want. They did say that they will and are working on ways to have their characters be brought back to life with partnership deals. This could easily mean that they could renew contracts with Disney but also create anew one simliar to what they started in the 90's to use Henson characters to be used by Disney for attraction and shows.

This does not change or cause any changes to existing attractions at either MGM or DCA since they are being license by Disney from an earlier contract.

Mr. Fusion
05-09-2003, 06:23 PM
Lost Boy, I don't think this shows that Disney only wanted the Muppets for merchandising. In Variety (http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=story&articleid=VR1117885757&categoryid=14&cs=1), they made mention to Disney being apprehensive about acquiring EM.TV's assets.


Jim Henson died unexpectedly 13 years ago this month. At the time, Disney had been finalizing a deal to acquire his company, and though that 1990 deal collapsed, the Mouse House was expected until recently to agree to terms to buy the company from EM.TV.

Ultimately, Disney was scared off by certain regs governing German bankruptcies, which Mouse attorneys advised posed too great a risk to a U.S. acquirer, should EM.TV go belly up.
I think eventually Disney will pursue obtaining the rights to the Muppets again, but due to Disney's current losses, they might might be more interested in an alliance for the time being:


"The board will be very involved in the management of the company," Brian Henson said. "It's too early to comment on what we're going to do going forward. But generally speaking, we plan on developing major strategic partnerships rather than growing internally."

-Mr. Fusion

mcampisi
05-13-2003, 01:04 PM
Quick Muppets/DCA trivia note. In the pre-show room for Muppets 3D, they have Dr. Honeydews name on one of the markers as Bunsen D. Honeydew I believe. It's Bunsen A. Honeydew