Underwhelming International Poster for Muppets Most Wanted

Yesterday UK entertainment site SFX revealed a new poster for Muppets Most Wanted that will be used to promote the film in non-US territories. Yes, it's almost the same poster as the previous UK poster, and not nearly as good looking, but it's new, therefore newsworthy!  

But why are Statler and Waldorf there? I haven't seen them at all in the advertising for the movie yet. Fozzie is WAY too small and not at all to scale. The Bunsen and Beaker and Statler and Waldorf poser photos are from long before Disney owned the Muppets. Why not take new pictures of the puppets? It really makes no sense to me. And the plain white background is an odd choice... But hey, it's still better than the US poster.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Muppets Most Wanted Poster Revealed!

The first poster for Muppets Most Wanted has been revealed via The Walt Disney Company and Entertainment Weekly. Check it out below in high resolution:

I don't hate the poster, by any means. It's fun and colorful and manages to get in all of the main characters, which is nice. Also, FOO FOO! And I can't say how much I adore the tagline "Taking The World By Farce"--absolutely brilliant. I do have some major issues though. First, Gonzo and Pepe are far, far smaller than they should be. Second, Animal, Sam, Foo Foo, and Constantine are the only Muppet poser puppets on here that weren't used constantly in promotion for The Muppets in 2011, which is disappointing.

But for the most part I'm just severely excited for this movie. Is it March yet?






The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

"The Muppets" Promo Overload

Over the past few days, a plethora of new promotional videos for The Muppets have surfaced in what we can only hope is the beginning of the massive Muppet merchandising machine rolling its way out of the starting gate. First up, a brand new mini-trailer for The Muppets is the featured video on Disney.com today. Thanks to our awesome friend Matt at Muppet Musings, we now have the video on YouTube as well! Check it out below:

Excited yet? Wait, there's more! A couple new promos for The Muppets are currently airing on Disney Channel in what appear to be extremely sporadic rotations. I was lucky enough to catch one of them yesterday morning during a Disney West broadcast of Phineas and Ferb. Lucky for you, I recorded it on my cell phone and stuck it up on YouTube. The quality is shoddy, but it gets the point across. Check it out!



Isn't that awesome? Note Gonzo's seemingly iron-fisted way of running his plumbing company, the fact that Sam Eagle is working for, what appears to be, a FOX News knockoff, Sweetums and Sam in a balcony box for some reason, rats skating on toothbrushes, and just a general air of awesome. If you happen to be watching Disney Channel and catch one of the TV spots, email, Facebook, or tweet us and let us know so we can catch the West Coast feed and record it!

But there is still more! Yesterday The Muppets Studio on YouTube debuted a brand new video for AMC Theaters in which Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Swedish Chef, Pepe, Animal, and more tell us the theater policy of cell phones, talking, and drumming during a movie. It's hysterical, classic, and awesome. Watch it!



Fun, no? Be on the lookout for the policy video in front of movies at your local theater. It's already running in front of such movies as The Lion King 3-D.

Finally, we leave you with four new international posters for The Muppets featuring Animal, Gonzo, Statler, Waldorf, Fozzie, The Swedish Chef, Kermit, and Miss Piggy. Unfortunately, no higher resolution images are available yet, but as soon as they are they'll be posted here! Enjoy!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com

"The Muppets": New Posters, A Bazillion Likes, and more!

A slew of four brand new posters for The Muppets debuted online yesterday. From what I've been told, these posters are intended for bus stop coverings and will apparently be seen all across the country on bus stops. This is very reminiscent of the posters seen on bus stops for Toy Story 3 a few years ago and is also used to promote nearly every big movie from big studios. Check out all four posters below! (Beware the creepy Kermit mouth in the last one.)

Be on the lookout for these posters in your region! (And resist the temptation to destroy the bus stop to take them home with you.)

Also debuting yesterday was Kermit the Frog's promotional video for The Muppets Fan-A-Thon where he asks the internet for a bazillion "Likes" on Facebook for The Muppets. Check out Kermit's video below, followed by Miss Piggy's video as well and then go like The Muppets on Facebook!! Why haven't you done so already? If The Muppets get to a bazillion likes we get to see an advanced screening of the movie!










The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com

NEW Poster for "The Muppets" and Theater Standee Revealed!

So... just as I was sitting down to force myself to write today's Weekly Muppet Wednesday post, the Muppet powers that be took it upon themselves to reveal yet another theatrical poster for The Muppets thanks to Collider.com and Fandango.com. This one appears to be the official, finalized film poster complete with credits at the bottom and Jason Segel, Amy Adams, and Chris Cooper all listed at the top. What are you listening to me for? LOOK! (Click on it to view in hi-resolution.)

Look at all those Muppets! It's time for everyone's favorite game--Spot the Muppets! Starting from the top and going left to right... Green Frackle, Zoot, Sweetums, Swedish Chef, Rowlf, Cactus, Chicken 1, Thog, Crazy Harry, Dr. Teeth, Statler, Waldorf, Chicken 2, Chicken 3, Gonzo, 80's Robot, Miss Piggy, Kermit, Animal, Fozzie Bear, Pepe the King Prawn, Behemoth, Rat 1, Janice, Scooter, Miss Poogy, Bunny, Penguin 1, Beaker, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Snowth 1, Snowth 2, Rizzo the Rat, Sam Eagle, Walter, Penguin 2 and Lew Zealand! Holy... Moly.

As if that weren't enough, we also get a hi-resolution look at the theater standee for The Muppets. Ever since the movie was announced, I've been waiting to see what the huge, Disney-rific theater standee would look like on display in local theaters, proudly showing off Kermit and Piggy and Fozzie and 80's Robot just like you surely see theaters proudly displaying Harry Potter and the Green Lantern now. Well... here it is in all its awesome glory! (Click to see it in hi-resolution.)

Spot the Muppets? Sure, why not. From left to right... Kermit Moopet, Rat 1, Rat 2, Sweetums, Link Hogthrob, Blue Frog, Green Frackle, Lew Zealand, Whatnot 1, Camilla the Chicken, Gonzo the Great, Statler, Waldorf, Whatnot 2, Whatnot 3, Scooter, Animal, Swedish Chef, Rizzo the Rat, Sam Eagle, Gorilla 1, Gorilla 2, Penguin 1, Penguin 2, Beaker, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Thog, Snowth 1, Fozzie Bear, Snowth 2, Miss Poogy, Floyd Pepper, Crazy Harry, Dr. Teeth, Janice, Miss Piggy, Pepe the King Prawn, Chicken, Walter, Kermit the Frog, 80's Robot, Rowlf the Dog, Zoot. WOW.

Both of these have more Muppets than I even expected to see in the movie (before the trailers started coming out, that is). It's so interesting to note the prominence of Pepe and Rizzo in both the poster and the standee when they just barely appeared in one trailer. That's very exciting and hints that their roles in the film might be larger than we think. I really don't know what to say about these... other than that I love them. Both of them. So much. I must own. I don't care that there's no room for a standee of that size... I need it.

We've also heard rumors that a new theatrical trailer for the film is currently in movie theaters waiting to debut. My guess is that it will drop with The Smurfs on Friday... but only time will tell.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Sam the Captain American Eagle

Yesterday marked the release of Marvel Studios' latest film epic, Captain America: The First Avenger. And, considering the fact that Disney now owns Marvel Comics and its parade of super-characters, it seems only obvious that Disney would begin to combine their own original beloved characters with the beloved characters from the Marvel universe. So... which Disney character would we be seeing don the iconic Captain America garb and holding that shield? Mickey Mouse? Stitch? Woody? Nope. None of the above. But see below...

Yup. That is Sam the Eagle dressed as Captain America. It's awesome. It's random... but it's awesome. Who would have expected Disney to make an official poster like this? Also... note the wonderful mash-up of the Marvel logo with the new Muppets "M." I think this is one of the only times that I've actually liked that M. Kudos to the Disney marketing team on this randomly awesome poster!






The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com

Hilarious Muppet Movie Poster Parodies

Later this year, Disney will be releasing a calendar for 2012 featuring Muppet movie parodies. One would think that, with the countless films being released every year, there would be tons and tons up for lampooning by the Muppets. Well, think again, apparently, because Disney feels the need to release a calendar of the same, lame 1990's movie parodies. This includes parodies of completely forgotten movies such as Patton ("Ratton"), Lawrence of Arabia ("Lawrence of Amphibia"), and Rebel Without a Cause ("Rodent Without a Cause"). This is incredibly lazy on Disney's part... they didn't even include the recent Muppet*Vision 3D parody posters ("BEAK-E," "Wild Frogs," "High School Mayhem")!

Disney could have easily given us something better than this, for so many reasons... especially considering that the fine folks over at Empire Online have over thirty hip, new parody posters for movies that people actually know about. Check them all out on their site and check out some of our favorites here below!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com

New Movie Poster(s) for "The Muppets"

Yesterday, for the first time since May, we got to see a brand new theatrical poster for The Muppets--two new posters, in fact! It isn't clear which of these posters is being released, or even where it is being released. According to Scannain, the first site to reveal the poster, this is the international version of the film's poster released by Walt Disney Pictures Ireland. Whatever the case, check out both versions of this crammed-to-the-edges poster...

Many fans are conflicted about how they feel about this poster. I'm mostly positive, but not entirely... these are the only things that I don't like:

• No Floyd... c'mon, there was definitely room for Floyd in there alongside the rest of the Electric Mayhem. The general public won't notice he's missing... but it's sort of jarring if you know that he's supposed to be there. Hey, at least he got a line in the trailer.
• Some of the Muppets (Statler and Waldorf, Zoot, Rowlf, Dr. Teeth) are re-used and Photoshopped in from this big group shot. Again... only obsessed fans will notice, but if you notice it, it's jarring.
• Walter is too big. I mean... his head is definitely not twice as wide as Beaker's. Weird.

The list of things on this poster that I do like--and like very much--is definitely longer...

• Character selection is excellent. Yes, it would have been great to see Swedish Chef, Sam Eagle, Pepe, Rizzo... the list is endless. But this selection is perfect to me. Something that no one has pointed out is that the group on this poster (minus Statler and Waldorf and Walter) is the exact group of friends that Kermit finds in The Muppet Movie. Fozzie, Gonzo, Piggy, the Mayhem, Rowlf, Scooter, Bunsen, Beaker... these are the classics. I love it!
• NEW poser puppet images! Janice and Animal look especially awesome... so do Fozzie, Piggy, and Scooter, and Gonzo is just SO excited to be there--and I don't blame him!
• Vibrant, ultra-noticeable colors. I don't know if Disney did some photo manipulating... but the Muppets have never looked more vibrant. The colors on the characters here stand out like never before. Look at Scooter and Animal--they jump right off the print!
• Each and every Muppet there (except Statler... party pooper) is SO happy to be there, promoting their new, exciting movie. They're all back and they couldn't be happier... and neither could I--and I'm sure most Muppet fans.
• Zoot's cardboard sign. That's so very Muppety... they don't have some big flashy advertisement... just a piece of cardboard. Brilliant.
• No Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones, or any other one of the hundreds (slight over-exaggeration) of celebrities rumored. Just Muppets... because, you know, this is The Muppets. And as much as movie news websites will have us believe that this is Segel's movie or Adams' movie... it obviously isn't based on what we've seen. This is the Muppets' movie. It's Kermit's, it's Piggy's, it's Thog's, it's Walter's... and this poster continues to confirm that.

In the end, I really love this poster. It's just... pure Muppet happy. Sure, fans like us may find Miss Piggy off or Zoot's outfit weird or Walter too big or whatever, but the general public? They're going to see these colorful, gorgeous, and happy Muppets and think to themselves, "Gee... that sure seems like a movie I would want to see. I like being happy." So... yeah. I love this happy poster and I can't wait to see what Disney's promotional engine has for us next.

Also worth noting... if this is indeed the international poster, that means we'll be seeing a (presumably) different second poster in the United States pretty soon as well. So there's that!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com

The British Correspondent is Closer Than You Think

Every once in awhile, I get an email from The British Correspondent. Usually, I just filter it into my Junk Mail folder (there's only so many times that you can watch a YouTube video of a well-intentioned chap in a bowler sipping tea and pondering whether or not he should eat a crumpet after reading his copy of Paddington Bear), but this email was a bit more interesting... in that it was foolish, and foolish is as foolish does... so here we is, and here we does.

To: Ryan Dosier
Re: Closer Than You Think

Dear Ryan,

I have stopped off at a place that I would call an Internet Café (which you American chaps would probably refer to as an "internet cafe") in order to bring to your attention something that I believe will be of great interest to you. For quite some time now I have suspected something to be a fundamental truth of our great nations (mine, and yours as given birth to by mine) and it is which is this: The Muppets are closer than you think.

I do not know if you are a fan of Dr. Who, but in recent episodes it was revealed that a race of aliens known only as the Silent(s) had infiltrated our world many, many years ago but that, once seen, they were immediately forgotten and so they had lived among us without our having any knowledge of them for all that time. Hence bumps in the night or creaking doors with no logical explanation.

Well, I certainly do not believe in all that Who nonsense (aside from it being one of the greatest British constitutions of television of all time and therefore one of the greatest television programmes in the world ever!) but I do believe that, much as those Silents, our culture has been mysteriously influenced at many times and in various ways. From the growing sense of unity between cultures, to the "green" (being green?) movement; from knowledge of the Alphabet to cookies being a sometimes food; from the puns of the world’s great comedians to the occasional pie in the face. So many aspects of the world in which we live have come to reflect the world of the Muppets, and now, I (and only I) have discovered why this is. It just came to me the other day when I was walking through a cinema investigating popcorn flavours.

They are closer than we think.

Our world IS their world and their world IS our world.

Now I realise that this is a HUGE revelation, and I am certain that it will rock the world of Muppet fans and I am just so grateful to have been the first one enlightened to this fact that surely no one else has ever realised.

Oh, and I also heard there’s a new Muppet poster too. I wonder what tagline they will be using...because I certainly have not seen it and it did not form the foundation of this email.

Yours ever closer than you think (quite possibly right behind you),
The British C.

P.S. Below is not the international version of the new Muppets poster.

(Please accept this copy of the email with our sincere apologies.)



The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

They're Closer Than You Think

Apparently, Muppet fans, The Muppets are closer than we think. Yesterday some huge news broke on the front of The Muppets as the very first official teaser poster for the film was revealed on Ain't It Cool News (thanks to our friend James Carroll for linking us to it first) and subsequently swept the web, hitting FirstShowing.net, SlashFilm, and other big-name film sites. But enough talk... check out the OFFICIAL teaser poster for The Muppets!

And there you have it, Muppet fans. Gonzo, Fozzie, Kermit, Piggy, and Animal are here, and they're closer than we think. Here's some of my analysis of the poster...

What I Like

• Love the use of characters. It's just Kermit, Fozzie, Piggy, Gonzo, and Animal stepping out. No Jason Segel, no Amy Adams, no Walter... it's The Muppets. I love it.
• It's simple. And, as Jim always said, simple is good. This doesn't try to be anything more than the Muppets just being there to be seen.
• The tagline is great. It's concise and sweet. It basically says the Muppets are here, the magic is here, the nostalgia is here, they've been here, and they're about to make themselves known once again. It's what we as Muppet fans have known all along... Disney is just confirming it for us.
• The lighting, the posers, the logo...

What I Don't Like

• The release date... it's still 192 days away!!
  

This is just the first of, I'm sure, many Muppet posters we'll be seeing in the coming months. And, between you and me, I've heard from a source that a trailer for The  Muppets is included in front of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which comes out next Friday (May 20th). But... I've also heard from another source that there wasn't a trailer in front of the preview they saw. So... who really knows?

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier