Most Wanted UK Blu-ray!

Muppets Most Wanted was just released in the UK this weekend and Amazon UK already has a glimpse of the bluray cover! No release date has been announced yet, though we hear the US version should be released around September.

here

Disney Store: Muppet Mugs!

The Muppets have really been mugging it up lately promoting Muppets Most Wanted, and speaking of mugs, the Disney Store has a set of ceramic mugs with the Muppet's mugs on them! (MUGS!)

Animal, Fozzie, Kermit, and Miss Piggy are available in stores and online in the US and UK and the links below.

US and UK

US and UK

US and UK

US and UK

While Gonzo is US only. 

Kermit Head Easter Basket

Craft store Hobby Lobby may be in the news for it's Supreme Court case, but a better headline would be that it has a plush Kermit head Easter basket! 

 Thanks to Jeanie Tweedy and Julie Liming for the info and photo.

Muppets Most Wanted UK Openings!

Muppets Most Wanted is now playing in Brazil, Greece, Cambodia, Macedonia, UK, and Ireland and opens on the 31st in Denmark. Make sure to go see it!

Most Wanted Wall Decor Contest!

If you've seen Muppets Most Wanted then you know, it features "The Wall."  Well, we've teamed up with Roommates to give away a Muppet wall decal so you can have the Muppets on YOUR wall!

To enter, all you have to do is like RoomMates on Google+ and Muppet Stuff on Facebook. 

For additional entries like RoomMates on Facebook, share a RoomMates post on Google+ and/or on Facebook and be sure to mention Muppet Stuff in your post. 

Rules:

Contest open from March 28th 2014 - April 4, 2014.

This giveaway is open to legal residents of the US, District of Columbia, and Canadian residents 18 and older. Winner will be selected at random and contacted via email. The lucky winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen. Good Luck!!!

Be sure to check out Roomates entire Muppet collection here.

Most Wanted Appearances March 23rd!

Gonzo was the Grand Marshal at Sunday's NASCAR SprintCup Auto Club 400 outside Los Angels. Check out him getting things "Start"ed in the video below.

Throwback Thursday: No Strings Attached

Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge debut this week and reminded me of Matt Bacon's excellent 1997 book No Strings Attached: The Inside Story of Jim Henson's Creature Shop 

If your a fan of the Creature Shop, I can't recommend this book enough and luckily it's still in print, albeit with a resigned cover.

Happy Birthday Elton John!

Happy Birthday to season 3, Muppet Show guest star Elton John! He performed two songs from his now classic album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," on the show and it was just released as a 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition. 

Most Wanted Walgreens Plush!

If you find yourself at the corner of not enough Muppet plush, and need a Constantine in a karate gi. Then Walgreen's has just the thing with these Muppets Most Wanted mini plush by Just Play. 

Kermit is the predominate character packed in the case, followed by Fozzie, but act quick because there's only 4 Constantines, and 2 indoor-running-of-the-bulls Gonzos!

Muppets Most Wanted: Puppets is Puppets!

Matt Vogel posted a great response, via his facebook page,  to the reviews stating Muppets Most Wanted used CGI instead of puppets. 

Muppets Most Wanted is full of amazing puppetry, some scenes may have been aided by computer effects, but Puppets is Puppets! 

Muppet Show Comic Omnibus

Marvel has collected all 24 issues of Roger Landridge's "Muppet Show Comic Book" in one massive 256 page omnibus and it's available now in two collectible covers.

The first is very similar to cover of the first issue, but with the new "Muppets" logo instead of "The Muppet Show Comic Book". Unfortunately that means Gonzo, who was bursting out of the original's "O", is not on the cover.

But he does make it on Phil Noto's variant cover, in which he referenced many standard stock photos to create. 

You can pick up the regular version at your local comic shop and at Amazon and the variant at your local shop an online at at retailers such as Dreamland Comics.

Our friends at Tough Pigs recently sat down with Roger Langridge to talk about the comic and some of the similarities between it and Muppets most Wanted.

New Disney EDM Remix Album Coming Soon

Speaking of albums, The Hollywood Reporter is, well reporting, that on April 22, Disney will release a new Electronic Dance Music (EDM) album entitled "Dconstructed."  The album features famous and upcoming EDM artists remixing classic Disney songs including "The Muppet Show Theme."

 The complete track listing is below:

1.  "Circle of Life" (Mat Zo Remix) – Carmen Twillie & Lebo M., The Lion King
2.  "Derezzed" (So Amazing Mix) Remixed by Avicii featuring Negin – Daft Punk TRON: Legacy
3.  "Let It Go" (Armin Van Buuren Remix) – Idina Menzel,  Frozen
4.  "Roar" (Yogi Remix) – Axwell & Sebastian Ingrosso, Monsters University
5. "Partysaurus Overflow" – BT & Au5, Inspired by the Toy Story Short Partysaurus Rex
6.  "UNKLE Reconstruction" (U.N.K.L.E.) – Michael Giacchino, The Incredibles"Fall" (Japanese Popstars Remix) – Daft Punk, TRON: Legacy
7.  "The Muppet Show Theme" (Shy Kidx Remix) – The Muppets, The Muppets
8.  "Hey Pluto!" (Stonebridge Remix)– Stonebridge, Inspired by Original Mickey Mouse Cartoons
9.  "Once Upon a Dream" (Trion Remix) – Bill Shirley & Mary Costa, Sleeping Beauty
10.  "Main Street Electrical Parade" (Extended Mix) – Shinichi Osawa, Disneyland Park
11.  "You've Got a Friend in Me" (Alfred Montejano Hyper Remix) – Randy Newman,  Toy Story
12.  "Baby Mine" (House Version) – KASKADE, Dumbo
13.  "Pineapple Princess" (Kinsey Moore Remix) – Annette Funicello, Hawaiiannette

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/earshot/dconstructed-disney-kaskade-avicii-armin-van-buuren-687901

Most Wanted Score!

Christophe Beck'score for Muppets Most Wanted will be released on April 15th. There's no information or links to where to but it yet though. 

Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge Debuts Tonight!

With Muppets Most Wanted now in theaters we turn our attention to the next big production, SyFi channel's Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge  which debuts tonight
at 10 PM EST!

The reality competition series is set up like SyFy's FaceOff, where contestants are judged
after performing almost impossible tasks, with one person being eliminated each week.The
last person standing wins the prize - a  job at the Creature Shop!

Farscape's Gigi Edgley hosts while Brian Henson, Kirk R. Thatcher, and the Creature Shop's Peter Brooke, Julie Zobel, and John Criswell are part of the amazing panel of judges.

Check out the great promo SyFy made to promote the series...

as well a behind the scenes look at how it was made!

More information is available from the show's website and be sure to check out the show tonight at 10pm on SyFy!

Hollywood Reporter: Most Wanted a "dud" but still positive

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Among the weekend's other new offerings, Disney's Muppets Most Wanted was a dud in its opening weekend, thanks in part to a saturated market for family titles. 

The sequel, facing competition from holdovers Mr. Peabody & Sherman and The Lego Movie, opened to $16.5 million in North America to come in No. 2, compared to a $41 million launch forThe Muppets over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2011, including $29 million for the weekend. Nevertheless, Disney's financial exposure is limited, thanks to a reasonable $54 million budget. 

And Muppets Most Wanted could make up ground overseas. It opened in its first eight markets over the weekend, grossing $1.5 million.James Bobin returns to direct the Muppets sequel, with Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey replacing Jason Segel and Amy Adams as the live-action leads. This time out, Kermit and the gang find themselves lured into an international crime caper while on tour in Europe. Muppets Most Wanted has earned solid-to-good reviews, compared to stellar notices for The Muppets. Audiences gave the movie a B+ CinemaScore.

Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis said the opening was "definitely disappointing," considering that prerelease tracking suggested Muppets Most Wanted had every shot at opening north of $20 million. However, he said there was never a comparison between the first film and the sequel, since Thanksgiving is a concentrated time for family moviegoing. "They are totally different propositions," he said.Hollis said Muppets Most Wanted should enjoy strong business in the coming days because of spring break.

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-divergent-breaks-ya-690460

And here's a link to thier initial review of the film: 
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie/muppets-2/review/687759

Most Wanted Box Office Report & Review

The opening numbers for Muppets Most Wanted are in, and they are NOT good. Divergent, based on a young -adult series of novels, blew away the competition with $56 million.

Meanwhile our favorite friends place a distant second place with $16 million, which is about half of the opening of 2011's "The Muppets."
Some comments I read say that the trailers and commercials gave too much away, and there's some validity too that, however there's so much other great stuff that wasn't shown beforehand that is worth seeing. 

This may be a good place to give my review of the film. Having seen it twice, the first a week before officially opening, and the second on a Thursday preview night, with two VERY different audiences. 

The first was obvious filled with Muppet fans, and families familiar with the Muppets, the second, was a small group of your average movie goers who seem to have a passing interest with the Muppets, but not a LOVE for them. Both groups seem to enjoy the film and a heard different people laughing a different parts, which is why Muppets Most Wanted works so well, it's got something for everyone.

At first I wasn't a fan of the songs as a whole. I loved "We're Doing a Sequel" from the moment Disney released a preview and the "Interrogation Song" and "I'll Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu)" were standout in the film, but the others were just OK. Then I listened to the soundtrack a few times before seeing the film again and they all just come alive so much more with repeat viewings. 
The movie is very  funny too and I had a huge smile on my face throughout it , however, I have a few issues with the film that I think may be contributing to it's current hiccup at the box office. First off, it 's definitely a musical, and more "Broadway" then the last film, the jokes seem to more in the beginning of the movie, there's too much time spent with the gulag prisoners, Jermaine Clement, Ray Liota and Danny Trejo, and Hornswoggle may as well have gotten above then title billing they're featured so much, but my second biggest problem is the ending. 

Spoiler Alert: The finale is set in the gulag while the Muppets are stuck (badly) to the wall and then pop off (badly) to sing an updated version of "Together Again." First, the produced already referenced this song twice in the previous film, and the "again" joke really only works if the movie kept it's original title "The Muppets Again." Disney marketing realized early on that it was a bad idea to market the film as a blatant  attempt of doing the same things over again again. So why didn't someone at Disney stop them from  doing this? Even if they sang it as a joke, and got heckled, much like Chris Copper does in the "Life's a Happy Song" encore, it could have worked, but they play it straight and it suffers accordingly. Again on the soundtrack it's fine, but in the movie it just feels very forced, and doesn't fit. They also decided to make a joke about Nadya having a solo in the song before it cut to "The End." The joke would have been funny if it were a running gag through the film. but as it stands Nadya has her own number in the pun filled "The Big House," so it doesn't really make sense, and ends the movie on a "huh?" note. 

My problems with the ending don't end there, though. They producers thought it would be a good idea to showcase all the cameo performers again (BADLY) on the wall. They don't add anything and take a lot away.The awful CGI compositing overshadows all the good work done throughout the rest of the film. It may be over used during "I'm Number One", but it's used seamlessly in the roof top climax. Then after "The End" the credits appear over the London skyline (reminiscent of The Muppets take Manhattan), with CGI fireworks (like The Muppets), that turn into many of the most popular characters faces, similar to kaleidoscope ending from Muppets from Space. It's cute, but again the CGI is terrible and is very derivative. Too much "Again" not enough "Most Wanted,"  The end credit gags are thankfully a step in the right direction and there should have been more of that. Be sure to stay to the very end to see a tribute to Jane Henson and Jerry Nelson and a short Fozzie shout out similar to Animal's from The Muppet Movie.

If the ending is my second biggest problem, what's my first? Well, the first time I saw the film it was proceeded by The Muppets in a audience participation sing-a-long style screening. Even though I've The Muppets numerous times, it was during this screening that, thank to Bret McKenzie's cue cards, you could literally see how many "awww" moments there were. In Muppets Most Wanted there isn't a whole lot of them. In fact for all the funny moments, fantastic songs, and amazing production values (save for the CGI), there's very little heart. The move has a coldness that I kept hoping it would redeem at song point, but by the time "Together Again" happens it's too late and feel cheap. 

Now, again most reiterate that I liked this movie. It's fun, funny, exciting, has some legit action sequences, amazing puppetry, great songs, and the Muppet performers are once at the top of their game.

If you haven't yet, go see "Muppets Most Wanted" if you have, go see it again. There's something for everyone, next time, more heart, less bad CGI.

Most Wanted Appearances March 21st!

Muppets Most Wanted may now be playing at a theater near you, but that doesn't mean The Muppets are going to stop promoting it!

Today Kermit and Miss Piggy headed to the "Queen Latifah Show"  to talk about the film and sing  “Rainbow Connection” with Queen Latifah and John Legend!

Most Wanted Shampoo!

Ocean Breeze soap may get you clean, but Suave Kids wants you to smell good too with their new line of Muppets Most Wanted shampoos and conditioners. 

There are many different options are available, most of which you can buy from their website or search to see if your local store is carrying it. 

2-in-1 Watermelon Animal 

2-in-1 Strawberry Miss Piggy 

3-in-1 Rasberry Fozzie 

3-in-1 Apple Kermit  

Free and Gentle Kermit 

Strawberry Miss Piggy

Berry Blue Gonzo

Thanks to Nate Downs for  the heads up. 

New No Room For Boring Ads!

With Mupets Most Wanted officially in theaters, Toyota has unleashed at least two new NoRoomForBoring ads in magazines. If you spot any others, Please take a photo and send to us!