This is a list of productions based on The Muppets characters and franchise, including films, television series and specials, and other media. The franchise's main work is The Muppet Show , a syndicated television series which ran from 1976 to 1981. The franchise includes eight feature films, and other television series.
Role | The Muppet Movie (1979) | The Great Muppet Caper (1981) | The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) | The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) | Muppet Treasure Island (1996) | Muppets from Space (1999) | The Muppets (2011) | Muppets Most Wanted (2014) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | James Frawley | Jim Henson | Frank Oz | Brian Henson | Tim Hill | James Bobin | ||
Producer(s) | Jim Henson | David Lazer and Frank Oz | David Lazer | Brian Henson and Martin G. Baker | David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman | |||
Writer(s) | Jerry Juhl & Jack Burns | Tom Patchett & Jay Tarses and Jerry Juhl & Jack Rose | Frank Oz and Tom Patchett & Jay Tarses | Jerry Juhl | Jerry Juhl & Kirk R. Thatcher and James V. Hart | Jerry Juhl and Joseph Mazzarino and Ken Kaufman | Jason Segel & Nicholas Stoller | James Bobin & Nicholas Stoller |
Composer(s) | Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher | Joe Raposo | Ralph Burns | Miles Goodman | Hans Zimmer | Jamshied Sharifi | Christophe Beck | |
Production companies | ITC Films Henson Associates | Henson Associates | Walt Disney Pictures Jim Henson Productions | Columbia Pictures Jim Henson Pictures | Walt Disney Pictures Mandeville Films | |||
Distribution | Associated Film Distribution 1 | Universal Pictures 1 Associated Film Distribution 1 | TriStar Pictures | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution | Sony Pictures Releasing | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | ||
Running time | 95 minutes | 97 minutes | 94 minutes | 86 minutes | 99 minutes | 87 minutes | 103 minutes | 107 minutes |
Release date | June 22, 1979 | June 26, 1981 | July 13, 1984 | December 11, 1992 | February 16, 1996 | July 14, 1999 | November 23, 2011 | March 21, 2014 |
Box office $452,100,030 | $65,810,475 [1] | $31,206,251 [2] | $25,534,703 [3] | $27,330,071 [4] | $34,327,391 [5] | $22,323,612 [6] | $165,184,237 [7] | $80,383,290 [8] |
Rotten Tomatoes | 88% [9] | 75% [10] | 84% [11] | 75% [12] | 71% [13] | 63% [14] | 95% [15] | 80% [16] |
Title | Premiere date | End date | Network |
---|---|---|---|
Sam and Friends | May 9, 1955 | December 15, 1961 | NBC (WRC-TV) |
The Muppet Show | September 5, 1976 | May 23, 1981 | Syndication |
Muppet Babies | September 15, 1984 | December 29, 1990 | CBS |
Little Muppet Monsters | September 14, 1985 | September 28, 1985 | |
The Jim Henson Hour | April 14, 1989 | July 30, 1989 | NBC |
Dog City | September 26, 1992 | November 26, 1994 | Fox Kids |
Jim Henson's Animal Show | October 3, 1994 | June 28, 1998 | Animal Planet/Fox Kids |
Muppets Tonight | March 8, 1996 | February 8, 1998 | ABC / Disney Channel |
Muppets TV | October 29, 2006 | December 31, 2006 | TF1 [17] |
Muppet Moments [18] | April 3, 2015 | November 28, 2015 | Disney Junior / Disney Channel |
The Muppets [19] | September 22, 2015 | March 1, 2016 [20] | ABC |
Muppet Babies [21] | March 23, 2018 | February 18, 2022 | Disney Junior |
Muppets Now [22] [23] | July 31, 2020 | September 4, 2020 | Disney+ |
The Muppets Mayhem [24] | May 10, 2023 |
Title | Release date | Director | Producer(s) | Distributor |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kermit's Swamp Years | August 18, 2002 | David Gumpel | Jim Lewis and Joseph Mazzarino | Sony Pictures Television |
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie | November 29, 2002 | Kirk R. Thatcher | Martin G. Baker and Warren Carr | NBCUniversal Television Distribution MGM Worldwide Television Group and Digital Distribution |
The Muppets' Wizard of Oz | May 20, 2005 | Bill Barretta | Buena Vista Television |
Title | Release date | Director | Distributor |
---|---|---|---|
Muppet Sing Alongs: Billy Bunny's Animal Songs | May 21, 1993 | David Gumpel | Buena Vista Home Video |
Muppet Sing Alongs: It's Not Easy Being Green | February 18, 1994 | ||
Muppet Classic Theater | September 27, 1994 | David Grossman | |
Muppets On Wheels | June 16, 1995 | David Gumpel | |
Yes, I Can Learn featuring the Muppet Babies | June 16, 1995 | ||
Yes, I Can Help featuring the Muppet Babies | June 16, 1995 | ||
Yes, I Can Be a Friend featuring the Muppet Babies | August 11, 1995 | ||
Muppet Sing Alongs: Muppet Treasure Island | February 14, 1996 | ||
Muppet Sing Alongs: Things That Fly | |||
Kermit's Swamp Years | September 3, 2002 | Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment |
Title | Premiere date | End date |
---|---|---|
Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony | June 26, 2005 | September 20, 2006 |
The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora | September 13, 2010 | December 17, 2010 |
A number of video games featuring the Muppets have been produced since the 1990s.
James Maury Henson was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating Fraggle Rock (1983–1987) and as the director of The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986).
Kermit the Frog is a Muppet character created and originally performed by Jim Henson in 1955. Kermit is the pragmatic everyman protagonist of numerous Muppet productions, most notably as the showrunner and host of the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show and a featured role on Sesame Street. He has appeared in other television series, feature films, specials, and public service announcements through the years. He also served as a mascot of The Jim Henson Company and appeared in various Henson projects until 2004.
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses television, film, music, and other media associated with the characters. Originally owned by the Jim Henson Company for nearly five decades, the franchise was purchased by the Walt Disney Company in 2004.
Miss Piggy is a Muppet character known for her breakout role in the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show. She is notable for her temperamental diva superstar personality, her tendency to use French phrases in her speech, and practicing karate. The character is also known for her on-again/off-again relationship with Kermit the Frog which never ends permanently. Frank Oz performed the character from 1976 to 2002 and was succeeded by Eric Jacobson in 2001.
Fozzie Bear is a Muppet character from the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show, best known as the insecure and comedically fruitless stand-up comic. Fozzie is an orange-brown bear who often wears a brown pork pie hat and a pink and white polka dot necktie. The character debuted on The Muppet Show, as the series' resident comedian, a role where he uses the catchphrase "Wocka wocka!" to indicate that he'd completed a joke. He was often the target of ridicule, particularly from balcony hecklers Statler and Waldorf. Fozzie was performed by Frank Oz until 2001, after which Eric Jacobson became the character's principal performer.
Statler and Waldorf are a pair of Muppet characters from the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show, best known for their cantankerous opinions and shared penchant for heckling. The two elderly men first appeared in The Muppet Show in 1975, where they consistently jeered the entirety of the cast and their performances from their box seats.
Brian Henson is an American puppeteer, director, producer, voice actor and the chairman of The Jim Henson Company. He is the son of puppeteers Jim and Jane Henson.
Animal is a Muppet character from the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show, and the wild and frenzied drummer of the fictional band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. The character was performed originally by Frank Oz and currently by Eric Jacobson. His original concept sketches, which show him as a very hairy human, were drawn by Bonnie Erickson and Jim Henson.
Rowlf the Dog is a Muppet character created and originally performed by Jim Henson. Known most notably as the resident pianist on the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show, Rowlf is a scruffy brown dog of indeterminate breed with a rounded black nose and long floppy ears. Laid-back and wisecracking, his humor is characterized as deadpan and as such, he is one of few Muppets who is rarely flustered by the show's prevalent mayhem. Henson's closest collaborators and family members have claimed Rowlf to be the Muppet character most similar to Henson's real-life personality.
The Jim Henson Company is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for its innovations in the field of puppetry, particularly through the creation of Kermit the Frog and the Muppets characters.
The Muppet Movie is a 1979 musical road comedy film directed by James Frawley, produced by Jim Henson, and the first theatrical film to feature the Muppets. A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, the film was written by The Muppet Show writers Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns. Produced between the first and second half of The Muppet Show's third season, the film tells the origin story of the Muppets, as Kermit the Frog embarks on a cross-country trip to Los Angeles, encountering several of the Muppets—who all share the same ambition of finding success in professional show business—along the way while being pursued by Doc Hopper, a greedy restaurateur with intentions of employing Kermit as a spokesperson for his frog legs business.
The Muppets Take Manhattan is a 1984 American musical comedy-drama film directed by Frank Oz and the third theatrical film featuring the Muppets. The film stars Muppet performers Jim Henson, Oz, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson, as well as special appearances by Art Carney, James Coco, Dabney Coleman, Gregory Hines, Linda Lavin and Joan Rivers. Filmed in New York City during the prior summer, it was released theatrically on July 13, 1984, by TriStar Pictures. A fantasy sequence in the film introduced the Muppet Babies, toddler versions of the lead Muppet characters.
The Muppet Christmas Carol is a 1992 American Christmas musical film directed by Brian Henson from a screenplay by Jerry Juhl. It is the fourth theatrical film featuring the Muppets. Adapted from the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, the film stars Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, alongside Muppet performers Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Jerry Nelson, and Frank Oz. Although artistic license is taken to suit the aesthetic of the Muppets, The Muppet Christmas Carol otherwise follows Dickens's original story closely. It is the first Muppet film to be produced following the deaths of Muppets creator Jim Henson and performer Richard Hunt; the film is dedicated to both.
Rizzo the Rat is a Muppet character from the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show, created and originally performed by Steve Whitmire until 2016.
The Great Muppet Caper is a 1981 musical heist comedy film directed by Jim Henson and the second theatrical film featuring the Muppets. The film stars Muppet performers Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and Steve Whitmire, as well as Charles Grodin and Diana Rigg with special cameo appearances by John Cleese, Robert Morley, Peter Ustinov, and Jack Warden. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company and distributed by Universal Pictures. In the plot, the Muppets are caught up in a jewel heist while investigating a robbery in London.
Eric Jacobson is an American puppeteer. He is best known for his involvement with the Muppets, performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle for The Muppets Studio, as well as Sesame Street characters Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and Guy Smiley—all roles that he inherited from the characters' original performers, Frank Oz, Caroll Spinney, and Jim Henson.
The Muppets Studio, LLC is an American entertainment production company and subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, that owns and produces media content for The Muppets franchise. The division was previously formed as The Muppets Holding Company, LLC in 2004 through Disney's acquisition of The Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House intellectual properties from The Jim Henson Company.
The Muppets is a 2011 American musical fantasy comedy film directed by James Bobin, produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, and written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller. It is the seventh theatrical film featuring the Muppets. The film stars Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, and Rashida Jones, as well as Muppet performers Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, and Peter Linz. Bret McKenzie served as music supervisor, writing four of the film's five original songs, while Christophe Beck composed the score. In the film, devoted Muppet fan Walter, his human brother Gary and Gary's girlfriend Mary help Kermit the Frog reunite the disbanded Muppets, as they must raise $10 million to save the Muppet Theater from Tex Richman, a greedy businessman who plans to demolish the theater to drill for oil.
Muppets Most Wanted is a 2014 American musical heist comedy film directed by James Bobin, produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, and written by Bobin and Nicholas Stoller. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films, it is the eighth theatrical film featuring the Muppets, and serves as a sequel to The Muppets (2011). The film stars Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey, alongside Muppet performers Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, David Rudman, Matt Vogel and Peter Linz. It was also Tony Bennett's final film before his retirement in 2021 and death two years later. The story tells how Muppets become involved in an international crime caper While on a world tour in Europe.