A dark comedy thriller directed by Jim Henson’s son, set in a puppet dystopia, is in the works at Lionsgate, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This, on top of the upcoming Muppets movie (written by and starring Jason Segel) and Sesame Street‘s sudden return to the zeitgeist, and I think we can officially declare that Muppets are back. Brian Henson’s Happytime Murders – which is not directly related to the Muppets and not, it seems, meant for kids — sounds like it’ll really give the Henson name some new cool cred, too. The script tells of a world where humans and puppets co-exist, though the puppets are second-class citizens. The puppet cast of a 1980s kids’ show called The Happytime Gang starts getting murdered one by one, prompting an alcoholic former-cop puppet to take the case with his ex-partner, a human. A little bit Roger Rabbit, a little bit Avenue Q, a lot awesome if they get it just right.
What do you think, PopWatchers? Are you psyched for Happytime Murders?
Read more:
Elmo and Grover on GMA
Jim Henson explains and makes puppets
Can Puppet Angel play the ex-cop? If this is done right, this movie could be genius.
Genius!
Ye – must have Puppet Angel!
first thing i thought of!
And we’re done here. Seriously, no comment will be better than this one, so we can all just go home.
This sounds awesome…20 years from now this could be a new generation’s Dark Crystal.
And look just as lame.
I guess they never saw “Greg the Bunny”.
I guess Greg the Bunny never saw The Muppet Show.
Greg the Bunny was exactly what I thought of too!
Greg the Bunny was that show that showed behind the scenes of a show put on by puppets, right? Yeah, The Muppet Show was first.
I’m still hoping for a return of the Farscape series.
Exactly. That was my kind of Muppets in space.
YES
As long as Franklin Bluth is there, I’m in.
“…it ain’t easy being brown!”
“I got children all over town!”
Yes, yes, yes!!! Love Muppets, love Jim Henson. Miss the 80′s.
Yes…it could get cooler.
They could get Johnny Depp and Tim Burton to voice two of the muppets.
They could get Christopher Nolan to polish the script.
They could get Peter Jackson to have his Feebles character make a cameo.
jus’ sayin’, it could be cooler.
Or they could include the puppets in disguise from one of Stefan’s clubs.
already love it
Looks like a cool idea!
What’s cool, exactly, about ripping off “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”…with puppets?
This stupid movie idea reminds me of what David Letterman said when “Roger Rabbit” premiered at the theaters:
Letterman: I can’t condone another puppet movie. (looks at Paul Shaffer) It’s puppets, isn’t it?
Shaffer: It’s animation.
Letterman: Ooooh, even better!
*lol*
The Henson name was always cool – it needs no additional coolness. In fact, the world might explode.