Earlier this week, we told you that Disney was bringing in the Pixar braintrust to help tweak “Tron: Legacy.”
Now it appears the House of Mouse is deferring to Pixar again to help make sure the next Muppet movie is up to snuff.
Several of the principle people behind the updated Muppet movie met with representatives from Pixar this week with the intent of making the film better. According to the Hollywood Reporter, writer Jason Segel and others performed a table-read of the script for Pixar’s John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Michael Arndt, Bob Peterson and president Ed Catmull.
On the Disney side, Muppets director James Bobin and producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman were likely in the room along with Segel. Neither Pixar nor Disney would comment.
Beyond whatever advice might have come down for the project at hand, the fact that Pixar has its fingers in the Muppets pie suggests that Disney, under the new regime of Rich Ross and Sean Bailey, is intent on taking advantage of its subsidiary’s storytelling abilities.
Given Pixar’s track record, it’s not surprising that Disney is taking advantage of the strengths of the group.
Jason says
I welcome our Pixar overlords. They know how to tell a story, and if Disney can use them to improve the rest of the films coming from their stable I’m all for it.
Dave in NY says
I agree! Give PIXAR control over a Live-Action Puppet Muppet movie. I don’t think an all CGI Muppet movie is good. Although CGI can be used to enhance the puppets of the Muppets.
I hope this new film is a return to what the Muppet Movie and Muppet Treasure Island did so well. Although, I’m worried that we’ll get another Muppet Oz movie.
If this new film does well, why not reboot the Muppet TV Show?