The Muppets Holding Company

Muppets Holding Company (now The Muppets Studio, LLCFact|date=June 2008) is a wholly owned subsidiary of media conglomerate The Walt Disney Company, formed in 2004 through the acquisition of The Muppets & "Bear in the Big Blue House" characters from The Jim Henson Company.

Since the mid-1980s, Jim Henson had been in talks with Disney CEO Michael Eisner to sell Disney the Muppets. He and other Muppet performers had secretly filmed tutorials for Disney animators, entertainers and Imagineers on the matter of how to properly operate a Muppet, and many Muppet producers were already preparing for the transfer.

On August 28, 1989, the two announced a deal for Disney to buy Henson Associates & all of its characters, excluding those featured on "Sesame Street." The deal fell through several months after Jim Henson's untimely death in 1990, largely due to clashes between the Henson family & Disney attorneys.

Following several legal battles, the theme park attraction, Jim Henson's MuppetVision 3D, opened at the Disney-MGM Studios in May, 1991.

The Henson family subsequently sold the entirety of the Jim Henson Company to German conglomerate EM.TV in 2000. In 2003, the Henson family repurchased The Jim Henson Company from EM.TV.

Eisner, still interested in the Muppet properties, re-opened negotiations with the Hensons and announced the purchase of the Muppets characters from The Jim Henson Company in February 2004. The first Muppets movie under complete Disney control, "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz", went into production immediately & aired on ABC in May, 2005.

Following Eisner's exit from the Disney company, new CEO Robert Iger removed the head of the Muppets Holding Company and several senior staff members hand-picked by Eisner. Since that time, the Company has been attempting to define the role of The Muppets within the Disney corporate structure.

They have also been holding open auditions across North America for Muppet performers to work in Disney theme parks, the Disney Cruise Line & television and motion picture projects.

Leadership

*Chris Curtin, 2004-2005
*Russell Hampton, 2005-2006
*Lylle Breier, 2006-present

Projects

* [http://muppets.com Muppets.go.com] , 2005
*"The Muppets' Wizard of Oz", 2005
*"Best of the Muppets" CD, 2005
*, 2005-2006
*The Muppet Show: Season One DVD, 2005
*"Muppets Ahoy!" stage show, 2005
* CD, 2006
*Before You Leap, 2006
* Muppet Mobile Lab, audio animatronic figures at Disney theme parks, 2006-present
*The Muppet Show: Season Two DVD, 2007
* "America's Next Muppet"
*The Muppet Show: Season Three DVD, 2008