The Muppet Movie is one of my favorite movies of all time. While some of the later Muppets film lost the edge and humor of the first few, the characters have stayed with me (and the rest of the world) ever since. With the recent surge of viral videos from Muppets Studio, you may be asking yourself, when is the next time we’ll get to see the Muppets on the big screen? Fortunately, Disney is working on a new film with Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) co-writing the newly named The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time. The Playlist has details on the script now as well.
Here is a quick synopsis of the plot:
“The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time” is about Gary, Mary, and Walter (a man, his girlfriend, and the man’s life-long nondescript, brown puppet best friend) getting the old Muppet gang — now retired entertainers known for the same Muppet show we know them from — together to save the TV studio that the original show was shot in. A villain, Tex Richman (nice name, on par with Doc Hopper), bent on drilling for oil underneath the studio, is due to take over the studio in weeks and the only way to stop him? Putting on a show that draws ten million viewers (see also “Heartbroken: The Conan O’Brien Story”).
Apparently the script is definitely a younger, fresher take on the characters, and hits the mark 65% of the time. What is this mark? Capturing the same spark that made the original movies great (which the blog accurate describes as “winks to the audience, friendly musical numbers, single gag repetition, friendship and togetherness being the answer to everything”). The film is expected to shoot this summer, so hopefully that percentage can grow in the meantime. One of the problems is the restriction of the single location has on the characters’ potential to branch out.
While you wait for the film, it looks like Muppets Studio is still churning out simultaneously cute and hilarious viral videos. Check out this latest one that has Beaker covering “Dust in the Wind”.