On the heels of the great success of 2011’s The Muppet Movie, bringing the Muppets back to the forefront of our hearts and minds and exposing them to a whole new generation, work has begun on the next installment. The sequel to The Muppet Movie will be called “The Muppets…Again” and while Jason Segel is not involved in the movie this time around, the rest of the filmmaking team is back in place and ready to make some Muppet-filled magic. Here is the official press release about the work in progress, hitting theatres in March of 2014:
The filmmaking team behind 2011’s celebrated film “The Muppets” reunites as Disney’s “The Muppets … Again!” kicked off production last week in London. The all-new global Muppets adventure welcomes Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey to the mayhem, along with Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Walter and rest of the Muppets. The film is directed by James Bobin (“Flight of the Conchords,” “Da Ali G Show”), who was just nominated for a BAFTA for “The Muppets” (Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer), and produced by the Academy Award®-nominated team of David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman (“The Fighter,” “The Proposal”). With a screenplay by Bobin and Nicholas Stoller (“The Five-Year Engagement”), who is also executive producer with John Scotti, “The Muppets … Again!” will feature music from Academy Award®-winning songwriter Bret McKenzie (“Flight of the Conchords”), who won an Oscar® for best original song for “The Muppets” (“Man or Muppet”). The new film will hit the big screen March 21, 2014.
“It’s great to be back working with the Muppets,” said Bobin, “some of them even remember my name occasionally now. As for the movie, it’s a tip of the hat to the old-school crime capers of the ’60s, but featuring a frog, a pig, a bear and a dog—no panthers, even pink ones—along with the usual Muppet-y mix of mayhem, music and laughs.”
Disney’s “The Muppets …Again!” takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour, selling out grand theaters in some of Europe’s most exciting destinations, including Berlin, Madrid and London. But mayhem follows the Muppets overseas, as they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper headed by Constantine—the World’s Number One Criminal and a dead ringer for Kermit—and his dastardly sidekick Dominic, aka Number Two, portrayed by Ricky Gervais, creator of “Derek” and the Golden Globe®- and Emmy®-winning series “The Office” and “Extras.” The film stars Golden Globe-, Emmy- and SAG Award®-winning actress and writer Tina Fey (“30 Rock,” “Mean Girls,” “Date Night”) as Nadya, a feisty prison guard, and Emmy Award winner Ty Burrell (TV’s “Modern Family”) as Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon.
Said Kermit the Frog, “This movie takes us places we’ve never been before. And trust me—this frog has never seen so much international flavor. I think audiences will eat it up—the entertainment, that is.”
Featuring a slew of surprising celebrity cameos, Disney’s “The Muppets … Again!” will shoot on location in London and in Hollywood, as well as in the famed Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, just outside of London.
Muppets in England? Sign me up! Can’t wait to see where the Muppets and their human friends take us this time around.