The Muppets Studio
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Formerly called
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The Muppets Holding Company |
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| Subsidiary of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media Labs | |
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Founded | February 14, 2004 |
| Headquarters | United States |
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Key people
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Debbie McClellan (Vice President) |
| Products |
The Muppets Bear in the Big Blue House |
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Number of employees
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5 (2015) |
| Parent |
Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media Labs (The Walt Disney Company) |
| Website | Official website |
The Muppets Studio, LLC, formerly The Muppets Holding Company, LLC, is a wholly owned entertainment subsidiary of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media Labs, formed in 2004 through The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of The Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House assets from The Jim Henson Company.
In the late-1980s, Jim Henson had been in talks with Disney CEO Michael Eisner to sell Jim Henson Productions to the Walt Disney Company. In August 1989, the two officially announced a deal for Disney to purchase Jim Henson Productions for $150 million. The deal fell through several months after Jim Henson's death in 1990.
Despite the collapse of the merger deal, by 1992, Disney and Jim Henson Productions had already struck a number of deals:
The Henson family subsequently sold the entirety of the Jim Henson Company to German conglomerate EM.TV in 2000. In 2003, the Henson family repurchased The Jim Henson Company from EM.TV.
Eisner, still interested in the Muppet properties, re-opened negotiations with the Hensons and announced the purchase of The Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House assets from The Jim Henson Company for $75 million on February 17, 2004. The acquired Muppet assets were then placed into The Muppets Holding Company with Chris Curtin as general manager within Disney Consumer Products. A new website was launched in November 2004 and the Muppets made an appearance on the 2004 Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live.
The first Muppet production under complete Disney control, The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, went into production immediately and aired on ABC in May 2005. On July 30, 2005, Animal and Pepe the King Prawn made appearance on The X Games 11 Preview show of All Access on ESPN2. While Bear first appeared under Disney's control in the reality show, Breakfast With Bear in 2005.
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