Disney to Release 'Muppets Movie' Next Thanksgiving

hey gang,

didnt know IF i should have started a new thread or not (if a mod wants to move it they may ) but Disney is to Release 'Muppets Movie' Next Thanksgiving 2011 now! more of the news on my Disney fan site - http://disneydigitalfiles.blogspot.com/

I almost didnt believe you at first but I looked it up and it seems you are correct. YES! We get to see the muppets a month earlier!

Ohhh i NEVER joke about Muppet news

That's the best weekend they could release it! It shows Disney's confidence and determination in the Muppets' future. Yaaaaaaay! (waving arms about)

Wouldn't it be great if we got a new muppet movie every other thanksgiving or so?

That is FANTASTIC! Love, love, LOVE the idea of releasing it then instead of Christmas. Do you all realize that we are now less than a year away from seeing this? Amazing!

Can I ask what your source for this info was, man? Not that I don't believe you, just wondering!

EDIT: Never mind... a quick Google search answered my question quite a few times.

Good move. Thanksgiving open is just as "prestigious" as a Christmas open plus not only is it sooner but it frees the Muppets up to do more Christmas promotion and still makes it seem more as a "2011" movie as opposed to coming out the last week of the year.

And - now it's less than a year away

The way i've been feeling lately, the idea of the new movie and all the promotion attached with it is literally the thing that's been keeping me going and getting through on a daily basis. It's nice that i'll be able to see it before i turn 40 and not after.

yep..google yea no prob dude!

Great idea, yea it's better as their pre-Christmas movie, not a post christmas one. It'll get tons of attention and shows that the footage coming back from the set must be VERY encouraging.

Very cool!

I hope whatever Dreamworks has doesn't compete that hard with it. Especially since I hear it's the third Madagascar... I like Madagascar and all, but 3? And the plot sounds terrible.

But it really seems a Thanksgiving release MAY be more beneficial than a straight out Christmas release... I think they learned their lesson with Princess and the Frog.

Holy crap the news keeps getting better and better. I almost didn't even want to speculate as to why the Muppets wasn't getting the coveted Disney Thanksgiving period release, as that's usually reserved for animated faire.

You folks know what this means right? Disney now considers "The Muppets" to be their MAIN tentpole holiday release, just as Tangled and Princess and the Frog got.

People worrying the Muppet film will be shelved or given a throwaway feb/march or august release? Disney just gave the Muppets their most coveted weekend release of the year(which was always traditionally the Pixar weekend, before they started doing Pixar movies during the summer)

Disney has dominated by leaps and bounds, and to have our beloved furry pals rise even further to land that spot shows how the house of mouse ain't messing around here.

Of course, we could have a 2 and a half minute theatrical trailer and some people would still not believe the film is really truly coming out.

Now if only a quick teaser could be attached to Tron...

Plus the fact it sounds like JHC really want to get crazy epic with the Dark Crystal sequel is another out of the blue news point that made my day. But yeah...get ready to see an insane tidal wave of Muppet marketing and merchandising the likes of which most of us have never seen.

Aside from the 1998 looking old cgi animation(no idea what that is about), Im a fan of Madagascar's series and the penguin spinoff. Not a huge fan, but I've seen em all including the xmas special. Usually, with the exception of Monsters vs Aliens, I cant stand Dreamworks stuff at all. I think it's really the chemistry of the Madagascar characters that sells me, something Disney's The Wild lacks. Man I hope it doesn't go head to head the same week. Usually Thanksgiving period films get released the week or two before.

And Bolt too!

Yes, it would be awesome if there was a teaser in front of TRON: Legacy. Although I'm trying not to get my hopes up.

I'll tell you guys one thing, when the first trailer finally premieres online, I'm going to watch it over and over again.

And here's hoping that Disney creates a Muppets website specifically dedicated to the film!

Heck, The Wild wasen't even made by Disney Animation, it was made by an outside company.
Those were dark times for Disney, let's not speak of that film again!

Did Bolt perform well? I know Princess and the Frog got a lot more marketing/buzz/merchandise than Bolt

A teaser literally could be a 30 second black screen with Kermit and Fozzie arguing, and then the title. Or the ol' "fooled you" teaser where it makes you think its some epic gripping new film with ominous orchestra music.

And no doubt Disney will have a /themuppets or themuppets-movie.com site by next summer. Even the most lame duck, pushed back films get a website.

the animation was soooooooo much better than Madagascar, but it just goes to show you that chemistry/story trumps prettyness. Hence why I *love* Antz way more than a Bug's Life.

Some non Pixar cgi films I love(like Chicken Little), some I won't even bother seeing(Dinosaurs) Tangled has gotten insanely good reviews, so I'll check that out. But Ive zero interest in seeing stuff like Despicable Me, Megamind, etc

According to Box Office Mojo;

The worldwide gross for Bolt was: 309,979,654 dollars

The worldwide gross for The Princess and the Frog was: 267,045,756 dollars

So yes, Bolt ended up performing well, and even better that The Princess and the Frog.

You gotta do your research.

And so did Bolt.

Just to elaborate a little more on my earlier post, what's nice about being out a month earlier is that the movie's still just out early enough to be included in various 2011 wrap-ups/reviews wheras if it was released Christmas, it would miss out on them plus be ignored in 2012 wrap-ups since it was a 2011 film.

I've been having lots of fun imagining different ways the film could be promoted; different teaser trailers, talk show appearances, merchandise - i'm so hyped for this!

I just really hope that the final title isn't "The Muppets" ... that's going to cause all kind of messes from who's-on-first discussions regarding "watching The Muppets" to disambiguation pages on wikis etc etc.

Technically, most US studio pictures are judged on whether they exceed their budget domestically. "Bolt" didn't quite get there, but made over $114M of its $150M budget and was impressive overseas. "Princess and the Frog" actually cost less and made back its budget ($105M) domestically, but was considered a disappointment. A lot of the perceptions have to do with expectations. "Princess and the Frog" was supposed to bring back the traditional animation artform.

When "Cars 2" launches next year it will definitely be Pixar's biggest financial success, but not necessarily a critical one. You know, I'm not a big fan of Cars, but it is quality Pixar and will help the company make other original ideas later on. I wish they'd stagger the sequels between new film ideas. I think that's fair. I expect there to be a “Cars 3" down the line. The toys sell like crazy! The Toy Story ones don't that much...funny, huh?

As for the Muppets...I think if this one does well that Disney will crank more out. Films are expensive, but Muppet films are cheaper than animated films and take a fraction of the time. The Muppets are iconic cast members owned by Disney who can venture out and promote projects in the real world. They can become just as commercially beloved by Disney as Mickey Mouse or Pooh. I have doubts about Muppets on television. We live in a different sort of world. Nobody watches live TV anymore and the medium is filled with gross and exploitive reality programs that feed off the worst part of human nature. Maybe their future is in specials, movies and marketing, but I would love a new tv show if they made one!