Muppets

OK, movie fans. Disney would like you to update your moviegoing calendar for 2014 and beyond. In a bit of release date housekeeping, the studio announced today updated release information for some of the biggest movies on its long-range schedule, including the next installment in the rum-soaked adventures of one eyeliner-favoring pirate. The fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie will open July 10, 2015, with screenwriter Jeff Nathanson handling scripting duties for the movie, which, like its predecessors, will be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and will star Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow. (The previous entry in the franchise, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” directed by Rob Marshall, earned upward of $1 billion at the worldwide box office.) Two Marvel films, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” due April 4, 2014 , and “Guardians of the Galaxy,” due Aug. […]

Have a wonderful holiday everyone! – Gina McIntyre Follow us on Twitter: @LATHeroComplex RECENT AND RELATED PHOTOS: Kermit the Frog, a career The Muppets crash WWE, Leno Disney says ‘Make Mine Marvel’ Donald Duck: A classic quest Pixar is making a dinosaur movie 2012: The year in awesome ‘The Hobbit’ collected: Complete coverage The year in video games: Indie possibilities Muppets director promises ‘anarchic stupidity’ Kermit commanded Jason Segel’s respect

Frank Oz was the voice of the wise and beloved Yoda and, more than 30 years after the character’s debut, not a month goes by without a fan approaching Oz with a simple request — but the answer is always the same: Do the impression he won’t. The 68-year-old Hollywood Renaissance man — Muppet puppeteer, movie director and the voice behind the pint-sized Jedi master — holds his characters too sacred for such tripe. “You wouldn’t parade your kids around like that, would you?” he said. “They’re part of me. I won’t use them as a party favor to impress people.” Oz, who lives in Manhattan, will return to Los Angeles on Thursday to accept a lifetime achievement honor at the 38th annual Saturn Awards, which are presented by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. He’ll don […]

The Muppets’ big-screen comeback shows how much moviegoers longed to see Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie the Bear, Gonzo and the rest of the gang back together again. But fans who sat down in the dark with the new movie have been pleasantly surprised, too, by the newest addition to the loopy ensemble: Walter. Wide-eyed, innocent, nattily-attired and half-dazed with celebrity-puppet adoration, Walter (voiced by puppeteer Peter Linz) recently spoke by phone to Hero Complex writer Patrick Kevin Day about making a film with his (their?) childhood idols. PKD: Do you consider yourself a full-fledged Muppet now that the movie has come out? W: Yeah, I guess I kind of do. I’ve never thought of myself in grandiose terms like that. Wow, an official Muppet. But I guess that’s the case, huh? PKD: I saw a comment online in which someone […]

Could Kermit the Frog host the Oscars? That’s what some Muppets fanatics are hoping. Thousands of Muppets fans on Facebook and Twitter are pushing for the popular characters to fill the Oscars telecast void left by the departure of Eddie Murphy, who stepped down from his hosting gig Wednesday. Murphy quit less than 24 hours after his creative partner Brett Ratner resigned as producer of the 2012 Oscar ceremony after making an anti-gay slur. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has tapped Brian Grazer — the producer of “24,” “Arrested Development” and “A Beautiful Mind” — to take Ratner’s place, but no announcement has been made concerning the hosting job yet. Enter Kermit and friends. Aside from adorable cuddliness, they have decades of stage experience, great comedic timing and plenty of cross-generational appeal — all things that the […]

After more than a decade away from the big screen, the Muppets are poised to return to the multiplex with the Nov. 23 release of their new self-titled movie musical. The film features the expected marquee names — Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear — but also introduces a newcomer, Walter. A sweet little guy from Smalltown U.S.A. who’s always sensed that there’s something a little bit different about him (especially growing up alongside his brother Gary, played by Jason Segel), Walter helps reunite the gang after he learns about a nefarious plot to tear down the old theater where they used to stage their variety show. Segel co-wrote “The Muppets’” screenplay with his “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” director Nicholas Stoller, and the pair, along with director James Bobin (HBO’s “Flight of the Conchords“), focused on capturing the same comic tone as […]

At Company Town, our sister blog on the business of show business, Stephen Zeitchik has an interesting report on a screenwriter named Christopher Weekes, whose script for a odd bio-pic called “The Muppet Man” was just named the best unproduced script in Hollywood by the tastemakers who compile the Black List rankings. Here’s an excerpt… “The Muppet Man,” which takes an almost fairy-tale view of the romance between the late Jim Henson and his longtime wife Jane, faces a far tougher climb. Weekes was discovered by managers Britton Rizzio and Kelly McCormack after they had seen an indie movie of his at a film festival in 2008. They soon found he had written, entirely on spec, a script about one of the most enigmatic and private of contemporary artists without having ever met or even read much about him (there exists […]