Okay. There are obviously a lot of people out there talking
about "The Muppets" this morning. In particular how ticket sales for this James
Bobin film reportedly fell off by 62% during its second weekend in domestic
release.
But – to be fair here – given that the No. 1 film in the
country, Summit Entertainment's "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1" also
experienced a pretty steep fall-off in ticket sales this past weekend (i.e. an
estimated 60%), it wasn't as though "The Muppets" was the only film that
suffered a post-Thanksgiving setback.
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In fact, given the number of people from Walt Disney Studios
who deliberately reached out to me on Friday & Saturday to then explain
that the weekend after Thanksgiving is traditionally the second slowest one of
the year when it comes to movie ticket sales … Well, it was clear that what
just happened with "The Muppets" wasn't entirely unexpected.
Interestingly enough, the message that I heard —
consistently and repeatedly — was that, in spite of whatever was going to
happen at the box office this past weekend as well as throughout the rest of the
month of December, the Company would continue to stand behind "The Muppets."
That no matter what this James Bobin movie ultimately wound up earning between
now and January 2nd (revised internal box office projections suggest that "The
Muppets" will eventually pull in something between $80 – $90 million during its
initial domestic run), Mouse House managers still feel that this film did a decent
job of relaunching – more importantly, re-energizing — the Muppet franchise.
The big question now is … What should Disney do next with
these characters? Mind you, you shouldn't expect to see anything of size done
with the Muppets between now and the end of February. Given that the
international roll-out of this Walt Disney Pictures release is still underway,
there is weeks worth of promotional work that have yet to be done. But after
that … Well, the Company's primary focus – at least when it comes to when it will
next attempt to put the Muppets back in the spotlight – will be late February /
early March.
Amy Adams, Walter and Jason Segal in "The Muppets."
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"Why then?," you ask. Well, March is the month when the
Blu-ray and DVD version of "The Muppets" is expected to hit store shelves (Walt
Disney Studios Home Entertainment has yet to settle on an exact sales date).
It's also when the Disney Fantasy is due to head out for its maiden voyage.
Which is when the general public will get its very first chance to play "The
Case of the Stolen Show," that new on-board "Enchanted Art" adventure game
which stars the Muppet characters.
As for late February … Given that the Mouse will be looking
to raise awareness of the soon-to-be-released Blu-ray & DVD versions of
"The Muppets" right about then, look for Kermit & Co. to have a fairly high
profile at the 84th annual Academy Awards. Which (not so-co-incidentally) will
be broadcast on ABC on Sunday, February 26th.
Given that "Life's a Happy Song" (i.e. the original song
that Bret McKenzie wrote for "The Muppets") is already getting Oscar buzz,
Disney Studios is anticipating an Academy Award nomination for this particular
musical number. And if that Oscar nod does in fact actually come through,
expect the Mouse to stage a very elaborate, Muppet-heavy rendition of "Life" as
part of this live broadcast.
(L to R) Kermit, Jim Henson, Cilia Van Dijk, Scooter and Richard Hunt at the 1986
Academy Awards. Copyright Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
All rights reserved
More to the point, look for Disney & ABC to lobby hard
for Miss Piggy and Kermit to be allowed to present at least one award at the
2012 Oscars. Which – if the Company can actually pull this off – will be
something of a coup. Given that the last time that Kermit appeared at the
Academy Awards was back in 1986 (which was when he, Scooter and Jim Henson
revealed the winner for that year's "Best Animated Short"category) while Miss
Piggy hasn't been part of this awards show since March of 1996 (which is when
this Muppet made a surprise cameo appearance, interrupting Whoopi Goldberg's
video chat with the star of "Babe," insisting that she was still Hollywood's
most famous hog).
And then – in support of the Blu-ray and DVD release of "The
Muppets" – there will, of course, be the usual round of talk show and morning
chat show promotional appearances. You know the drill.
But after that, things get kind of interesting for the
Muppets. Given that the Company's future plans for this particular set of
characters do kind of key off of how well "The Muppets" actually does at the
box office … Well, that decision can't be
made until Disney gets the final international box office tallies for this film.
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But that said … If I were a betting man (and based on what I
heard from Studio insiders this past Friday and Saturday), I'd say that it's
far more likely that we'll see another Muppet TV-based project (like – perhaps
– that previously-announced and now-long-delayed Muppet Halloween special)
before we see these characters in a brand-new feature-length film production.
But what do you folks think? Does that sounds like a viable
plan to promote the upcoming Blu-ray & DVD release of "The Muppets"? If
not, what would you do differently to put these characters back in the
spotlight?
Your thoughts?
