# The Muppets (2011 film)
**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)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | November 23, 2011, wide release in the United States[1](https://movies.disney.com/the-muppets-2011) |
| Director and writers | James Bobin; screenplay by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/66778) |
| 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) |
| Budget and opening | $45,000,000 production budget; $29,239,026 domestic opening weekend[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1204342/) |
| 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/) |
| 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/) |
| 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/) |
| Sequel | Muppets Most Wanted, released March 21, 2014[8](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Muppets) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Walter, 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/)
The 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/)
## Origins and development
**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)
**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)
**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)
## Music
Christophe 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/)
## Reception and box office
The 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)
**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/)
## Legacy
The 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)
## References
1. [The Muppets (2011), Disney Movies](https://movies.disney.com/the-muppets-2011)
2. [Muppets, The (film), D23](https://d23.com/a-to-z/muppets-the-film/)
3. [Interview: Nicholas Stoller on Writing The Muppets, ComingSoon.net](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/84590-interview-nicholas-stoller-on-writing-the-muppets)
4. [The Muppets (2011), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/66778)
5. [The Muppets (2011), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1204342/)
6. [The Muppets, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_muppets)
7. [The Muppets, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-muppets/)
8. [Muppets Franchise Box Office History, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Muppets)
9. [The Muppets (2011) Box Office, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Muppets-The)
10. [James Bobin to direct Muppets new theatrical movie, Muppet Central](https://muppetcentral.com/news/2010/012910.shtml)
11. [The Muppets (2011), theStudioTour.com](https://www.thestudiotour.com/archive/movie/the-muppets-2011/)
12. [On Set Interview: Director James Bobin Talks 'The Muppets', /Film](https://www.slashfilm.com/516201/muppets-james-bobin-interview/)
13. [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)
14. [The Muppets (2011) review, Behind The Lens Online](https://behindthelensonline.net/site/reviews/the-muppets-2011/)
15. [Muppet Movies Ranked by Tomatometer, Rotten Tomatoes](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/muppets/)
16. ['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)
17. [The Muppets critic reviews - Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-muppets/critic-reviews/)
18. [Muppets Are Not Wanted, TIME](https://time.com/34783/divergent-is-no-twilight-but-starts-strong-while-muppets-are-not-wanted/)
19. [The sequel to 2011's The Muppets, Cineplex Magazine](https://mediafiles.cineplex.com/CineplexMagazine_March2014.pdf)
20. [The Muppet Show Special's 'Comedic Chaos', CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/television/the-muppet-show-special-comedic-chaos-has-critics-talking-sabrina-carpenter)
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*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*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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