A Muppetastic Comeback?

The British newspaper The Telegraph writes:

The Jim Henson-created characters may be on their way back thanks to a new Disney Film. In the movie, written by...Jason Segel, the Muppets reunite to save their studio with one last variety show. Should the film go well, it opens up the possibility of a television programme, also written by 28-year-old Segel.

Variety elaborates on how the writer/actor lined up the gig.

In “[Forgetting] Sarah Marshall” Segel’s character writes a “Dracula” musical performed by puppets. Those cloth creatures were custom-made by the Henson puppeteers, and the experience emboldened Segel to pitch his concept for a Muppets movie when he was invited in for a general meeting with exec Kristin Burr. Segel got a deal in the room and enlisted [Nick] Stoller to co-write and direct the project.

Fingers are crossed this project gets done and done right. No word on when production might get underway or when the movie could hit theaters. In the meantime, watch Statler and Waldorf as they bring their balcony curmudgeonliness to the Internet: below, here and here.

UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter says:

NBC is getting into the holiday spirit with “Letters to Santa -- A Muppets Christmas.” Whoopi Goldberg, “The Sopranos” alums Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa, “Harry Potter” regular Richard Griffiths and Madison Pettis are set to star in the special alongside Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Miss Piggy and the rest of the muppets gang. “Letters” is set on Christmas Eve when Kermit and company mistakenly avert three letters en route to Santa Claus, which triggers a race against time to bring a happy Christmas to the kids whose wishes were lost in the mail.

But why would Disney, which owns both ABC and the Muppets, sell this to NBC? Why, Bob Iger, why?

MUPPDATE: The New York Times on the planned comeback: “[T]his time the Muppets are getting the “Hannah Montana” treatment, being blasted into every pop-culture nook and cranny that the company owns or can dream up.” The Hannah Montana treatment? Uh-oh. Well, at least Statler & Waldorf are weighing in on the Presidential debates. Harrumph.

If it’s showtime, it’s Trajan.

Go to the movies, and there’s usually one typeface getting more than its share of screentime. The folks at Goodiebag put the Trajan mania in perspective.
However, if this year’s crop of best picture nominees for an Oscar are any indication, the tide may be turning. Juno uses hand-drawn lettering that matches its animated title sequence. There Will Be Blood features a calligraphic font that, well, bleeds. The original theatrical poster for Michael Clayton uses Eurostile Bold Extended to spell out the title character’s name. Atonement goes retro with a typewritten font, a generously kerned, all-caps Prestige Elite. The folks at Linotype take a look at other movie fonts here.

Monster Mashup

At the corner of Smith and Pacific Streets in Brooklyn last night, anyone with a cell phone was a screenwriter, thanks to TXT of the Living Dead. It’s a condensed version of the zombie classic Night of the Living Dead, projected onto a blank wall with dialogue supplied via text messaging.

The brains behind the operation is Paul Notzold, who took about 500 frames from the thriller (relax, it’s in the public domain) and then created speech bubbles for about 150 of those frames. As Notzold explains on his web site, “Text messages sent in from participants show up in those frames in the order that they are received. The movie moves forward when a new message is received. The other frames are action frames that play through automatically until they hit a speech frame. Once all the speech frames have been filled the movie can then be viewed from beginning to end with the new audience generated dialogue.”

The project is part drive-in, part comic book, part Lichtenstein pop-art, part Mad Libs, part New Yorker caption contest and part flash mob. Although the project is uncensored, texters kept it relatively – and surprisingly – clean. There were the made-in-jest marriage proposals, variations on “all your bases are belong to us” and generic greetings (“Hi, Joe”). But there were also plenty of pop culture references (Geico, Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah) out of sync with the narrative, upping the comic effect.

Gothamist.com gave the Halloween-night project its seal of approval. And Wired recently detailed a showing outside Paris. “Notzold's road kit is deceptively simple: a Mac, a projector (and something to stand it on), a camera and a generator. Helpers distribute a cell phone number on pieces of paper -- Notzold always gets a number for the country he is in, making it easy for locals to participate.” Below is footage from the event in France.



What’s next for Notzold and his SMS project? That bastion of inane banter: the 30-minute local news broadcast. Back to you, Bob.

Kwik-E-Marketing

You've probably seen advertising for it on TV and online, but not in a commercial. To promote the Simpsons movie, 20th Century Fox has been partnering with companies like 7-Eleven and JetBlue. Mr. Burns hijacked the blog of JetBlue's David Neeleman for a few days this month. Twelve 7-11 stores have been converted to Kwik-E-Marts through the end of July. And in a clever reverse product placement, the stores sell Springfield-worthy products such as Buzz Cola, Krusty-O's cereal and Radioactive Man comics that are "flying off the shelves." One lucky fan ran into an incognito Matt Groening while visiting the Burbank store and got an autographed box of Krusty O's.

A ubiquitous, unnamed "source close to the movie's promotions" told Brandweek, "It wasn't really about lining up as many partners as possible, it was about having the right partners in the right context and the right message." It appears that the efforts for 7-Eleven were spearheaded by agency Tracy Locke with some serious input from Groening and his team at Gracie Films.

In addition, the movie studio paired with USA Today for a contest to see which Springfield would play host to the movie's premiere. (Springfield, Vermont gets the honors.) Fox also got on the YouTube bandwagon with this 9-second video.


And now Haaper's Bazaar has even gotten into the game. The August issue has the Simpson family and a cartoon version of Linda Evangelista in Paris wearing the latest from Versace, Chanel, Marc Jacobs and more. Get your cartoon couture here. The current issue of Vanity Fair asks Conan O'Brien what it was like to work on The Simpsons. More writers, the voices, other funny people and even Murdoch provide VF with the inside skinny and color commentary here.

Of course, you can create your own Simpsons avatar here. There will probably be a few more surprises before the movie opens on July 27. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Burger King has launched SimpsonizeMe.com while Leo Burnett says, "Hey, we pitched that to you!" in this NPR report (courtesy of Agency Spy).

Judd & Jerry

This interview between a teenage Judd Apatow and a not-yet-famous Jerry Seinfeld is nothing short of prophetic. Seinfeld lays out his plan for success, while Apatow proves himself an astute student of comedy -- at an age when most kids still struggle to write a decent essay. The interview is one of the online features that accompany the profile on Apatow in a recent issue of The New York Times Magazine as part of the publicity for his new comedy Knocked Up. (Which by the way, recouped its production costs the opening weekend, pulling in nearly $30 million.) Meanwhile, Seinfeld plans a mini-comeback to NBC primetime via one-to-two minute shorts (tinytainment, in his words) that promote his upcoming animated feature Bee Movie. Seinfeld debuted two minisodes last month in front of advertisers at the network's upfront session. One was a fictionalized tour of the Dreamworks animation studios -- complete with overworked animators crashing on cots in the hallways. In a second minsode, a writers' assistant offers up coffee and script ideas to Jerry and his crew. Jerry is critical of the suggestions until he learns the assistant's last name is...Spielberg.