{ "id": "ept27ypwg3", "slug": "the-muppets-2011-film", "title": "The Muppets (2011 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": 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Muppets (2011) is a Disney musical comedy directed by James Bobin, written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, in which Walter, Gary, and Mary reunite the Muppets for a telethon to save their theater from oilman Tex Richman; it won the Best Original Song Oscar for \"Man or Muppet.\"", "snippet": "The Muppets (2011) is a Disney musical comedy directed by James Bobin, written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, in which Walter, Gary, and Mary reunite the Muppets for a telethon to save their theater from oilman Tex Richman; it won the Best Original Song Oscar for \"Man or Muppet.\"", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.animated-family-franchise-entries.musical-and-fantasy-entries", "markdown": "# The Muppets (2011 film)\n\n**The Muppets** is a 2011 American musical comedy film directed by James Bobin and written by [Jason Segel](https://www.edgepedia.org/jason-segel) and [Nicholas Stoller](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicholas-stoller), in which a new Muppet named Walter and his human friends reunite the long-disbanded Muppet troupe to save their theater from an oil tycoon.[1](https://movies.disney.com/the-muppets-2011) Released by [Walt Disney Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/walt-disney-pictures) on November 23, 2011, it was the Muppets' first theatrical film in more than ten years and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.[2](https://d23.com/a-to-z/muppets-the-film/) • [3](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/84590-interview-nicholas-stoller-on-writing-the-muppets)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | November 23, 2011, wide release in the United States[1](https://movies.disney.com/the-muppets-2011) |\n| Director and writers | James Bobin; screenplay by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/66778) |\n| Producers and companies | David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman for The Jim Henson Company and Mandeville Films/TV; distributed by Walt Disney Pictures[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/66778) |\n| Budget and opening | $45,000,000 production budget; $29,239,026 domestic opening weekend[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1204342/) |\n| Box office | $88.6 million domestic; $165,184,237 worldwide in the original release, plus $6,618,761 from a 2021 Australian re-release[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1204342/) |\n| Awards | \"Man or Muppet\" by Bret McKenzie won the 2012 Oscar for Best Original Song[2](https://d23.com/a-to-z/muppets-the-film/) |\n| Reception | 95% on Rotten Tomatoes from 228 reviews; Metascore 75 from 37 reviews[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_muppets) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-muppets/) |\n| Sequel | Muppets Most Wanted, released March 21, 2014[8](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Muppets) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nWalter, described as the world's biggest Muppet fan and a brand-new Muppet himself, travels from Smalltown, U.S.A. to Los Angeles with his human brother Gary (Jason Segel) and Gary's girlfriend Mary ([Amy Adams](https://www.edgepedia.org/amy-adams)). Touring the abandoned Muppet Studios, they learn that the businessman Tex Richman ([Chris Cooper](https://www.edgepedia.org/chris-cooper)) plans to raze the Muppet Theater and drill for oil discovered beneath it. To save the studio, the three seek out [Kermit the Frog](https://www.edgepedia.org/kermit-the-frog) and help him reunite the Muppets, who have gone their separate ways, for a telethon that must raise $10 million.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_muppets) • [2](https://d23.com/a-to-z/muppets-the-film/)\n\nThe scattered troupe's situations give the film its reunion structure: [Miss Piggy](https://www.edgepedia.org/miss-piggy) works as a plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, Gonzo runs a high-class plumbing business, Fozzie performs with a Reno tribute band called the Moopets, and Animal is in a Santa Barbara clinic for anger management.[2](https://d23.com/a-to-z/muppets-the-film/) • [9](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Muppets-The) [Rashida Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/rashida-jones) plays Veronica, a TV executive who hosts the telethon, and the film includes cameos by roughly two dozen celebrities alongside more than 100 Muppets.[2](https://d23.com/a-to-z/muppets-the-film/)\n\n## Origins and development\n\n**The pitch.** After *Forgetting Sarah Marshall* (2008), which Stoller directed and Segel starred in and which included a puppet musical, Segel met with Disney and asked what the studio was doing with the Muppets; the studio had no active answer. On the drive home he called Stoller, and the two worked out the film's main movements on that phone call: getting the Muppets back together and staging a show to save the studio from an oil baron.[3](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/84590-interview-nicholas-stoller-on-writing-the-muppets) The project carried the working title \"The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made!\" when James Bobin was announced as director in January 2010.[10](https://muppetcentral.com/news/2010/012910.shtml) Segel and Stoller worked on the script for four years, the first two of which passed before Disney greenlit the film.[3](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/84590-interview-nicholas-stoller-on-writing-the-muppets)\n\n**Production.** The film was in production from November 2010 to February 11, 2011, with additional reshoots in April 2011, and was shot on Stage 28 at [Universal Studios Hollywood](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-studios-hollywood), with a nearby stage used as a Muppet workshop.[11](https://www.thestudiotour.com/archive/movie/the-muppets-2011/) Bobin, known for *Flight of the Conchords*, said he valued puppetry's low-tech quality and wanted to avoid a computer-generated look, so that Kermit's felt and Fozzie's fur remain visible on camera.[12](https://www.slashfilm.com/516201/muppets-james-bobin-interview/) Digital effects were used selectively to free the characters from strings, rods, and visible puppeteers in some scenes.[13](https://www.pcworld.com/article/478565/qanda_how_digital_effects_gave_the_muppets_new_freedom.html)\n\n**Performers.** The Muppet cast combined veteran performers with the new character: Eric Jacobson performed Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and Animal; Dave Goelz performed Gonzo and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew; [Steve Whitmire](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-whitmire) performed Kermit and Beaker; and Peter Linz voiced Walter.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-muppets/) Producer David Hoberman credited the collaboration of Whitmire and Goelz, original performers from *The Muppet Show*, as key to the film's development, and the crew gained respect for the puppeteers' craft during production.[14](https://behindthelensonline.net/site/reviews/the-muppets-2011/) Stoller noted that the puppeteers improvised movement and dialogue on set; Jacobson improvised one of Fozzie's jokes in an [Emily Blunt](https://www.edgepedia.org/emily-blunt) scene.[3](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/84590-interview-nicholas-stoller-on-writing-the-muppets)\n\n## Music\n\nChristophe Beck composed the score, and [Flight of the Conchords](https://www.edgepedia.org/flight-of-the-conchords)' Bret McKenzie wrote the new songs, including \"Man or Muppet\" and \"Pictures in My Head.\"[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/66778) • [3](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/84590-interview-nicholas-stoller-on-writing-the-muppets) \"Man or Muppet\" won the [Academy Award for Best Original Song](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-original-song) at the 2012 ceremony.[2](https://d23.com/a-to-z/muppets-the-film/) The film also has Kermit reprise \"The Rainbow Connection,\" and its finale features a large gathering of Muppets in a song-and-dance rendition of that song.[15](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/muppets/)\n\n## Reception and box office\n\nThe film opened on November 23, 2011 against *The Muppets*' first theatrical appearance in more than a decade, and grossed $29,239,026 in its opening weekend from 3,440 theaters on the way to $88.6 million domestically.[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1204342/) • [9](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Muppets-The) [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) records $165,184,237 worldwide for the original release across 45 markets, with a further $6,618,761 from a 2021 re-release in Australia; The Numbers lists the worldwide total as $160,461,952, a difference between the two trackers.[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1204342/) • [9](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Muppets-The) The Los Angeles Times reported a five-day domestic take of about $42 million over the [Thanksgiving](https://www.edgepedia.org/thanksgiving) period and noted the film appealed both to children and to adults nostalgic for the 1970s television program *The Muppet Show*.[16](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-nov-28-la-et-1128-box-office-20111128-story.html)\n\n**Critical response.** Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 95% Tomatometer from 228 reviews, with the critics consensus calling it \"clever, charming, and heartfelt\"; Metacritic assigns a Metascore of 75 based on 37 reviews, with 92% of them positive.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_muppets) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-muppets/) Reviewers highlighted the film's balance of nostalgia and self-referential humor: the Washington Post described it as both a family film and \"a winking, self-referential satire,\" and NPR's reviewer called it probably as good a Muppet project as possible without Jim Henson.[17](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-muppets/critic-reviews/) The 2011 film earned an \"A\" CinemaScore, a grade its 2014 sequel Muppets Most Wanted fell short of with a B-plus.[18](https://time.com/34783/divergent-is-no-twilight-but-starts-strong-while-muppets-are-not-wanted/)\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe film relaunched the Muppets' film career under Disney and led directly to the sequel *Muppets Most Wanted* (2014), in which the criminal Constantine, a Kermit look-alike, switches places with Kermit during a European tour.[18](https://time.com/34783/divergent-is-no-twilight-but-starts-strong-while-muppets-are-not-wanted/) • [19](https://mediafiles.cineplex.com/CineplexMagazine_March2014.pdf) Rotten Tomatoes' ranking of Muppet films places *The Muppets* (2011) first in the franchise by Tomatometer score, ahead of *The Muppet Movie* (1979) at 89%.[15](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/muppets/) The film remains available on Disney+, and its revival is frequently cited as the closest later Muppet projects have come to recapturing the original series' appeal.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_muppets) • [20](https://www.cinemablend.com/television/the-muppet-show-special-comedic-chaos-has-critics-talking-sabrina-carpenter)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Muppets (2011), Disney Movies](https://movies.disney.com/the-muppets-2011)\n2. [Muppets, The (film), D23](https://d23.com/a-to-z/muppets-the-film/)\n3. [Interview: Nicholas Stoller on Writing The Muppets, ComingSoon.net](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/84590-interview-nicholas-stoller-on-writing-the-muppets)\n4. [The Muppets (2011), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/66778)\n5. [The Muppets (2011), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1204342/)\n6. [The Muppets, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_muppets)\n7. [The Muppets, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-muppets/)\n8. [Muppets Franchise Box Office History, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Muppets)\n9. [The Muppets (2011) Box Office, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Muppets-The)\n10. [James Bobin to direct Muppets new theatrical movie, Muppet Central](https://muppetcentral.com/news/2010/012910.shtml)\n11. [The Muppets (2011), theStudioTour.com](https://www.thestudiotour.com/archive/movie/the-muppets-2011/)\n12. [On Set Interview: Director James Bobin Talks 'The Muppets', /Film](https://www.slashfilm.com/516201/muppets-james-bobin-interview/)\n13. [Q&A: How Digital Effects Gave 'The Muppets' New Freedom, PCWorld](https://www.pcworld.com/article/478565/qanda_how_digital_effects_gave_the_muppets_new_freedom.html)\n14. [The Muppets (2011) review, Behind The Lens Online](https://behindthelensonline.net/site/reviews/the-muppets-2011/)\n15. [Muppet Movies Ranked by Tomatometer, Rotten Tomatoes](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/muppets/)\n16. ['Breaking Dawn' wins box office; 'Muppets' has respectable take, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-nov-28-la-et-1128-box-office-20111128-story.html)\n17. [The Muppets critic reviews - Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-muppets/critic-reviews/)\n18. [Muppets Are Not Wanted, TIME](https://time.com/34783/divergent-is-no-twilight-but-starts-strong-while-muppets-are-not-wanted/)\n19. [The sequel to 2011's The Muppets, Cineplex Magazine](https://mediafiles.cineplex.com/CineplexMagazine_March2014.pdf)\n20. [The Muppet Show Special's 'Comedic Chaos', CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/television/the-muppet-show-special-comedic-chaos-has-critics-talking-sabrina-carpenter)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Animated and family franchise film entries › Musical and fantasy entries*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-muppets-2011-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-muppets-2011-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Muppets (2011 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-muppets-2011-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Muppets (2011 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-muppets-2011-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-muppets-2011-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-muppets-2011-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Muppets (2011 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-muppets-2011-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Muppets is a Disney musical comedy directed by James Bobin, written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, in which Walter, Gary, and Mary reunite the Muppets for a telethon to save their theater from oilman Tex Richman; it won the Best Original Song Oscar for \"Man or Muppet.\"" }