Who owns the rights to...

[a_Mickey_Muppet]

What I wana know is who "owns" A Muppet Family Christmas? becouse I want it re-released again on DVD (yesss un-cut) soon! as for Its a Very Merrry Muppet Christmas and Swamp Years, Disney has the rights to thos too?

 

[WOCKA2416]

What I wana know is who "owns" A Muppet Family Christmas? becouse I want it re-released again on DVD (yesss un-cut) soon! as for Its a Very Merrry Muppet Christmas and Swamp Years, Disney has the rights to thos too?

Disney owns all of them. Anything with the classic Muppets in them...Disney owns.

 

[GelflingWaldo]

as for Its a Very Merrry Muppet Christmas and Swamp Years, Disney has the rights to thos too?

As for "Kermit's Swamp Years" and the NBC "Its a Very Merrry Muppet Christmas" are partially owned by CTHE and NBC Studios (not the characters but the productions). Disney has access to them, but any re-releases would need their approvial aswell.

For The Muppets Take Manhattan and Muppets From Space The Muppet Holding Company (Disney) has stakes in them in. They own the characters and have limited distribution rights (they can air it on TV), but it would need to go through both Disney and Columbia Tri-Star for doing other things with them (like re-releasing on Video/DVD). Yet The Muppet Movie and Great Muppet Caper were compleately bought from Henson. The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island were the same way with Henson and Disney when they were made. Disney had the productions but Henson had stakes in them and rights. After the Henson/Disney deal Disney got the whole stake in them.

Either way, Disney owns the characters and part of the productions; and pretty easily can get them to do what they want (they'll have to give a little of the $ back to the other owners), I don't forsee NBC, CTHE, and Columbia Tri-Star not working with The Muppet Holding Co, nor do I see The Muppet Holding Co. not wanting to work with them. These types of partical/split ownership of past productions in not an uncommon thing many TV Shows are like this (that's why a NBC sit-com might be seen in re-runs on the WB or FOX) It's just a little more paperwork, but in the end The Muppet Holding Company really has the control of them.

 

[McFraggle]

I wish Disney would just buy out Columbia's stakes in those films.

 

[GelflingWaldo]

I think it's a money thing. They might do it some day, but there is no real need - having shared rights is not a real problem for them, it's not that bad to deal with.

 

[McFraggle]

I hope so.

 

[GelflingWaldo]

I hope so.

Me too

 

[Gusworld]

Regarding 'Sam and Friends': obviously Henson own the rights to the characters involved, but did the company ever go to the trouble of buying the rights to the footage itself? Lacking any specific evidence to the contrary, I would have assumed that WRC-TV owned this (to the extent that the footage still exists at all!).