WebProNews

Tag: the muppets

  • Terry Crews Is Having A Great Year

    2014 is already starting off as a great year for Terry Crews.

    Crews currently co-stars in the Golden Globe winning Fox comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, he just appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show, and we’ll get to see him in a new Super Bowl ad with the Muppets. And January isn’t even over yet!

    The people at Toyota have enlisted the help of Crews and the Muppets to promote their new 2014 model of the Highlander.

    Toyota is promoting the 2014 Highlander as the vehicle that has tons of room – enough for Crews, some Muppets, and multiple musical instruements – but “no room for boring.”

    Many have it as the commercial to beat during this Sunday’s Super Bowl.

    In the commercial Crews is decked out in a tie, button-up shirt, and khakis, He’s driving around in his Highlander listening to some “boring” music, when he comes across some Muppets and their broken down van on the side of the road. They take him up on his offer to help, putting all their musical equipment in the back, sending Crews to the backseat, and changing the music to something “non-boring.”

    During the road trip Crews finally succumbs to the fun antics of the Muppets, and before you know it he’s ripped his shirt off and wearing his tie around his head, but did it all really happen? Because suddenly Crews is hanging out of the sunroof of his Highlander parked in his driveway, sans shirt, tie still around his head, while his neighbor Kermit is watering his lawn.

    The pec-popping Crews is no stranger to starring in commercials. He was also known as the Old Spice guy for quite some time.

    Please enjoy the Toyota Highlander ad with Crews and the Muppets in the video below and see if you agree that the the Highlander has room for everything, except for boring.

    It’s going to be quite the Sunday for Crews, since he can also be seen in a new special episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine which will air after the Super Bowl and New Girl.

    Image via YouTube.

  • Lady Gaga and The Muppets Enjoy Mutual Promotion

    Lady Gaga and the Muppets entertained TV fans on Thanksgiving night, in a special aptly named Lady Gaga & the Muppets’ Holiday Spectacular. If you’re a fan of one or the other, the show was no doubt well received and probably even enjoyed. And if not, it was likely passed over for a football game or a rerun on TNT. Entertainment Weekly makes an excellent observation about the show, however–pointing out that both Lady Gaga and the Muppets received mutual promotion for performing together.

    You see, Lady Gaga–a.k.a. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta–has a new album out. Artpop was released earlier in November and includes her hit song Applause. The Muppets have a new film that debuts in theaters in March of 2014. Muppets Most Wanted is the first film the stuffed characters have done since 2011. They’ve been playing this game for decades, and that means they’re old. They need all the promo they can get. EW claims the show was akin to watching a Black Friday ad that encompassed the entire holiday season–and they make a valid point.

    Artpop isn’t going the way of other Lady Gaga albums. In fact, sales have dropped significantly in the past week alone. Will her Thanksgiving night performance send Black Friday shoppers out to buy Artpop?

    While the Muppets and their upcoming Muppets Most Wanted can’t exactly materialize in a Black Friday shopping bag–they can in fact breed hype in the minds of millions of children who love the fuzzy critters, as well as their parents, who have probably watched their earlier films since childhood. Plus, where there’s a kid’s movie, there are accoutrements to accompany it. There are dozens of options in retails stores already–sticker books, games and stuffed animals–that promote the March release.

    This Twitter follower didn’t really know what to think about the Thanksgiving TV special.

    How about you? Did you catch Lady Gaga & the Muppets’ Holiday Spectacularon Thanksgiving night? The show did feature top notch guests like Elton John, RuPaul and Joseph Gordon Leavitt. But was the blatant promotion something you recognized before it was brought to your attention? If not, then kudos to the producers. And best of luck to both Lady Gaga and the Muppets. Hopefully her album sales will skyrocket (probably not happening, though) and box office sales will break the bank for the Muppets in March.

    Now that this concept of Black Friday-type promotional TV specials has been outed, how many other holiday TV specials might have planned similar promotional strategies? EW might have unwittingly changed the way holiday TV viewers watch these shows. Maybe viewers will start watching them the way shoppers watch infomercials or ‘not available in stores’ advertisements.

    But wait! Buy now and receive two gadgety gizmos for the price of one!

    Happy holidays?

    Image via Facebook

  • Muppets Most Wanted Poster Debuts

    The official movie poster for the new Muppets Most Wanted made its debut today in an Entertainment Weekly exclusive.

    Ricky Gervais, one of the film’s co-stars, tweeted back in October:

    He plays second-banana to villain and Kermit doppelgänger, Constantine, featured at his most sinister at the bottom, right corner of the poster. As per usual, the cast is a virtual who’s who of legendary Muppets and Hollywood elite: Kermit, Tom Hiddleston, Miss Piggy, Tina Fey, Fozzie, Ty Burrell, Animal and Ray Liotta among others.

    The plot, sporting the tagline, “Taking the world by farce,” involves a jewel-heist by dastardly duo Constantine and Gervais, which drags along the Muppets, who are on a world tour. Echoes of The Great Muppet Caper (1981) anyone? The film is considered a follow-up to 2011’s The Muppets. Both are directed by James Bobin, who also has credits directing comedy TV Series’ Flight of the Conchords and Da Ali G Show.

    Not involved in this iteration is the writer and (human) star of The Muppets, Jason Segel, who reported to Collider back in 2012 that, “My goal was to bring The Muppets back and I did that leaving them in very good hands, my writing partner and James Bobin the director. I did what I set out to do, and now I wanna pursue more human-related projects (laughs).”

    The trailer for the latest Muppets flick was released back in August (re-shown above). The film won’t be out until next March so if you need a Muppet injection beforehand, you can watch the ABC Thanksgiving special, Lady Gaga & the Muppets’ Holiday Spectacular. Gaga will also have a cameo in the Most Wanted.

    (image)

    [Images via Muppets Facebook and Entertainment Weekly.]

  • Muppets Most Wanted Trailer Includes Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey

    Muppets Most Wanted Trailer Includes Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey

    The Muppets was a success back in the fall of 2011, winning critical praise and an Oscar for its music. It was a return to form for the Muppets, who had not been in a theatrical movie since 1999’s Muppets From Space. Disney is now looking to press on with that success, and a sequel to The Muppets is coming on March 21, 2014.

    Muppets Most Wanted will follow the Muppets as they tour the world. They are then drawn into a a European jewel-heist by a thief who happens to be Kermit the Frog’s Doppelgänger. London, Madrid, Berlin, and Dublin have all been mentioned as locations in the movie.

    An early teaser trailer for the movie was released this week. It shows that Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, and Tina Fey will have major roles in the flick. It also spoils some of the trademark Muppet-movie cameos, such as Sean “Diddy” Combs and Salma Hayek:

  • Jane Henson Dies; Muppeteer Was 78

    Jane Henson, wife of Muppets creator Jim Henson, has died. She was 78.

    According to The Jim Henson Company, Henson died at her Connecticut home yesterday after a prolonged battle with cancer. The company has set up a tribute page featuring photos from her life and audio from an address she made to The Jim Henson company made last year.

    Jane Henson was born Jane Nebel, and met Jim Henson at a puppetry class at the University of Maryland. The couple went on to create the show Sam and Friends and the Muppets. The couple were married in 1959, and had five children together. Though they were separated in 1986, Jane would go on to continue her association with The Jim Henson Company.

    Jane collaborated on several Muppet projects, including The Art of The Muppets museum exhibit, The Muppet Show on Tour, and Sesame Street Live She also served on the board of The Jim Henson Foundation, co-founded The National Puppetry Conference, and founded both The Jim Henson Legacy and The Jane Henson Foundation.

    (Image courtesy The Jim Henson Company)

  • Jerry Nelson Dies at 78, Muppet Puppeteer

    Today, we learn the loss of one of the most prominent people from our childhood. Jerry Nelson, the voice and puppeteer behind many of Jim Henson’s The Muppets characters, has died.

    Jimmy Nelson started working for Jim Henson’s Muppet project in 1965 with his first job on The Jimmy Dean Show, due to Frank Oz taking time off from his puppeteering role; however, when Oz returned from his absence, Henson had to release Nelson to let Oz resume his role. Nelson rejoined Henson in 1970, and in 1971, Nelson was the first puppeteer to perform “Mr. Snuffleupagus,” which Nelson kept from 1971-1975.

    Later, Nelson progressed into performing more well-known puppets within The Muppets‘ family, such as:

    • Count von Count (Sesame Street)
    • Sgt. Floyd Pepper
    • Dr. Julius Strangepork
    • Lew Zealand
    • Robin the Frog (Kermit the Frog’s nephew)
    • Camilla the Chicken
    • Uncle Deadly

    Nelson also was graced with both puppeteering and voicing Emmet Otter in Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, which gave Nelson much attention for this role.

    Apart from Nelson’s involvement with The Muppets, Nelson also became involved with the other puppet hit Fraggle Rock, puppeteering various roles like: Gobo Fraggle, Pa Gorg, and Marjory the “Trash Heap.”

    On August 23rd, 2012, Jerry Nelson passed away at the age of 78. Various fans of his work have been leaving their respects via Twitter:






  • Google+’s First Commercial For the UK

    While Google+‘s commercial with The Muppets has been on in the United States since the Oscars, the search engine introduced the ad copy to the United Kingdom, making it Google’s first ad campaign for that particular region. Apparently, the tag line for this particular campaign is “That’s a plus.”

    I, for some reason, am happy Google didn’t capitalize the “plus” when it appeared. As The Guardian points out, Google+‘s reach in the United Kingdom is lacking, at best:

    Meanwhile Facebook remains the monolith of the web – taking almost 18% of people’s entire internet time in the UK during January. None of the other social networks managed more than 1% of UK “user minutes” for the same period; the blogging site Tumblr.com managed 0.55%, followed by Twitter, with 0.27%, and the “business social network” LinkedIn with 0.22%. Google+ and Pinterest both had 0.01% of total internet time, by ComScore’s figures.

    Will The Muppets help save Google+ in the UK or will it remain an also-ran to services like Facebook and Twitter? As The Next Web indicates, a few the UK’s major media outlets have joined Google+–The Financial Times and The Telegraph–as have Prime Minister David Cameron, Nick Clegg (the liberal leader) and Ed Milliband (leader of the Labour Party). Does the presence of political leaders make Google+ a more attractive service to use for UK citizens?

    Let us know what you think.

  • The Muppets Respond to Fox News Attack, Miss Piggy’s Upset

    The Muppets, whimsical puppets who try to make both adults and kids laugh – or – a brainwashing piece of media that’s looking to turn your kids into liberal, tree-hugging, pinko commies?

    Fox News asked this question a couple of months ago, seriously (as serious as they could) debating the ramifications of The Muppets featuring an oil tycoon as the movie’s villain. If you missed out on the segment, here’s the video…

    The video generated a fair amount of buzz, leaving many people bewildered by the extent Fox News went on to attack the movie. There were two people muppets who responded to the attack over the weekend at a UK press event. They had this to say…

    Uh oh, Fox News, you’ve made Miss Piggy upset. If you’re familiar with the Muppets, you know Miss Piggy’s wrath runs long and deep.

    Hopefully this story brought a bit a laughter to your Monday, I know the second video did for me. Also, in case you’re wondering, this was my response to the initial Fox News segment.

  • The Muppets Trailer Channels The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Trailer

    If you’ve been to a movie in the theaters recently, then you’ve probably seen the new trailer for the upcoming American version of the Swedish crime thriller The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. It’s been the talk of the internet, as many are saying it’s one of the best trailers they’ve seen in a quite some time. I’ll admit, it’s pretty good.

    The American version is set to release this December and is directed by Fight Club and Social Network‘s David Fincher. The American version is based on the Swedish film that is based on the incredibly popular novels of the same name…you get the picture.

    But now we can add one more layer of “based on” to the mix, as the new teaser trailer for the new Muppets film The Muppets has just hit the interwebs. “The Pig With The Froggy Tattoo,” as you might guess, parodies the TGWTDT trailer. It might be the first time that a film’s trailer parodies another film’s trailer, both of which are set to premiere around the same time.

    And it’s funny – a really good viral ad. It’s already been mentioned on the YouTube trends blog as one of the viral hits of the day.

    Check it out below. (Tip: If you haven’t seen the trailer that The Muppets trailer parodies, you might want to skip a little further down and watch it first.

    The Muppets is coming out November 23rd and sports an all-star cast including Jason Segel, Chris Cooper, MIla Kunis, Amy Adams, Zach Galifianakis and Ricky Gervais.