The Jim Henson Company

The Jim Henson Company
	The Jim Henson Company Lot in Los Angeles
Formerly	Muppets, Inc. (1958–1976); Henson Associates, Inc. (1976–1990); Jim Henson Productions, Inc. (1990–1998)
Type	Private
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	November 20, 1958
Founders	Jim and Jane Henson
Headquarters	Jim Henson Company Lot, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Key people	Brian Henson; (Chairman); Lisa Henson; (President & CEO)
Products	Puppetry, Animation, Computer graphics, Digital puppetry, Entertainment
Brands	The Muppets (1955–2004); The Sesame Street Muppets (1969–2000); Fraggle Rock (1983–present);
Owner	Henson family
Parent	Independent; (1958–2000, 2003–present); EM.TV & Merchandising AG; (2000–2003)
Divisions	Jim Henson's Creature Shop; Henson Recording Studios; Henson Alternative
Website	www.henson.com

The Jim Henson Company is an American entertainment company. It started with Muppets, LLC. in 1958 by puppeteer Jim Henson. Henson is the creator of The Muppets.[1] The Muppets helped the company become popular worldwide. They were well known in family entertainment for more than forty years.[2]

In 1969, the company started making characters and more than 20 short movies for the popular children's show Sesame Street.

One of the company's first characters regularly on national television was Rowlf the Dog. He was first made for Purina Dog Chow commercials. He became famous when he became a regular character on The Jimmy Dean Show from 1963–66.

In 1976, British media mogul Lew Grade asked Jim Henson to make a weekly show based in England, which became The Muppet Show. The success of The Muppet Show led to many movies, specials, videos, and more.

In the early 1980s, Jim Henson also formed Jim Henson's Creature Shop. It made characters for shows such as The Storyteller, Farscape, and Dinosaurs; and movies such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. It was also in the 1980s that Jim Henson produced new television series such as Fraggle Rock and The Jim Henson Hour.

In 1990, Jim Henson was talking to The Walt Disney Company about selling his company. Henson died during the week that he was going to sign the contract. His family decided to have the company keep the rights to the characters.[3][4] However, on December 18, 1991, The Walt Disney Company bought the distribution rights to the entire Jim Henson Company library up to that time.[5]

In 2000, Jim Henson’s children sold the company to the German media company, EM.TV. In January 1, 2001 they sold the Sesame Street Muppets to Sesame Workshop. In 2003 Henson's children bought back the company.[6] In 2004, they sold the rights to The Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House characters to The Walt Disney Company.[7] The Walt Disney Company now owns all Muppet-related trademarks, including the word “Muppet”.

Filmography

Feature Films

Production company	Title	Release date	Production partners	Distributor
Muppets Inc.	Time Piece	1965		Pathé Contemporary Films
Muppets Inc.	The Cube	February 23, 1969		NBC
Henson Associates	The Muppet Movie	June 22, 1979	ITC Entertainment	Associated Film Distribution[lower-alpha 1]
	The Great Muppet Caper	June 22, 1981		Universal Pictures[lower-alpha 1]
	The Dark Crystal	December 17, 1982		Universal Pictures[lower-alpha 2]
	The Muppets Take Manhattan	July 13, 1984		TriStar Pictures[lower-alpha 3]
	Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird	August 2, 1985	Children's Television Workshop[lower-alpha 4]	Warner Bros.
	Labyrinth	June 27, 1986	Lucasfilm	TriStar Pictures
Jim Henson Productions	The Witches	August 24, 1990	Lorimar Film Entertainment	Warner Bros.
	Jim Henson's MuppetVision 3D*	May 16, 1991	Walt Disney Imagineering	Disney-MGM Studios Walt Disney Attractions
	The Muppet Christmas Carol	December 11, 1992	Walt Disney Pictures	Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
	Gulliver's Travels	February 4, 1996	Hallmark Entertainment	NBC
	Muppet Treasure Island	February 16, 1996	Walt Disney Pictures	Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Jim Henson Pictures	Buddy	June 6, 1997	Columbia Pictures American Zoetrope	Sony Pictures Releasing
	Muppets from Space	July 14, 1999	Columbia Pictures[lower-alpha 3]
	The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland	October 1, 1999	Columbia Pictures Children's Television Workshop
	Good Boy!	October 10, 2003	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer MGM Distribution Co.
The Jim Henson Company	Rat	October 6, 2000 (UK)	Universal Focus Universal Pictures
	Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story	December 2, 2001	Hallmark Entertainment
	It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie	November 29, 2002	NBC Studios	Universal Pictures[lower-alpha 3]
	Five Children and It	October 15, 2004	Isle of Man Film Commission Davis Films UK Film Council Endgame Entertainment	Capitol Films
	Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars	October 17, 2004	Hallmark Entertainment
	The Muppets' Wizard of Oz	May 20, 2005	The Muppets Holding Company[lower-alpha 5] Fox Television Studios Touchstone Television	Walt Disney Television
	MirrorMask	September 30, 2005	Destination Films	Samuel Goldwyn Films (USA) Tartan Films (UK)
	Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs and a Baby	March 4, 2008	Prana Animation Studios Flame Ventures The Weinstein Company	Genius Products
	Unstable Fables: Tortoise vs. Hare	September 9, 2008
	Unstable Fables: The Goldilocks and the 3 Bears Show	December 16, 2008
	Sid the Science Kid: The Movie	March 25, 2013	Nine Eye Stone Productions	PBS NCircle Entertainment
	Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day	October 10, 2014	Walt Disney Pictures 21 Laps Entertainment	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
	Lily the Unicorn	June 26, 2015	Amazon Studios	Amazon Prime Video
	Turkey Hollow	November 21, 2015		Lifetime
	The Star	November 17, 2017	Columbia Pictures Sony Pictures Animation[12] Franklin Entertainment Walden Media Affirm Films	Sony Pictures Releasing
	Dinosaur Train: Adventure Island	April 10, 2021	Universal 1440 Entertainment	PBS Universal Pictures
	Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio[13]	December 9, 2022	ShadowMachine Netflix Animation Double Dare You Productions	Netflix
	The Portable Door	April 7, 2023	Story Bridge Films	Madman Entertainment Sky Cinema
	Untitled Labyrinth spin-off sequel[14]	TBA	TriStar Pictures TriStar Productions	Disney+ Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
	Muppet Man		Walt Disney Pictures	Disney+ Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

References

Willman, David (1992-07-26). "Jim Henson's Children Put Together a String of Big Deals to Keep Alive". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
Gritten, David (1990-08-19). "The Next Muppetmeister?". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
Zonana, Victor F. (1991-04-18). "Henson Heirs Allege Disney Is Illegally Using Muppets". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
Citron, Alan (1990-12-14). "Miss Piggy and Friends Won't Get Together With Mickey and Minnie". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
New York Times
Verrier, Richard (2003-05-08). "Muppets Returning to Hensons' Hands". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
Disney Corporate
Jay Jones, Brian (2013). "Chapter 12: Twists and Turns". Jim Henson: The Biography. Ballantine Books (Random House). pp. 374–375. ISBN 978-0345526113.
Thompson, Simon (July 25, 2019). "Remembering 'The Muppet Movie' At 40 With Gonzo". Forbes. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
"Make the Rainbow Connection Again as 'The Muppet Movie' Returns to the Big Screen in Honor of its 40th Anniversary on July 25 and 30". prnewswire. Fathom Events. June 3, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
"The Dark Crystal Returns to Movie Theaters". Fathom Events.
"Film releases". Variety Insight. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
Lang, Brent (October 22, 2018). "Guillermo del Toro Directing 'Pinocchio' for Netflix". Variety. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
Fleming, Mike (May 26, 2020). "Scott Derrickson Set To Direct 'Labyrinth' Sequel For TriStar Pictures; Maggie Levin To Write Script". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 26, 2020.

The film's home media, TV, and digital distribution rights were purchased by The Jim Henson Company from ITC Entertainment in August 1984.[8] The film rights were then acquired by Walt Disney Studios upon their parent company's acquisition of the Muppets franchise in 2004.[9] Currently, Universal Pictures handles theatrical distribution[10]—due to prior contractual obligations with the former Associated Film Distribution and ITC—but the film's ownership and copyright are controlled by Disney, with home media reissues of the film branded as a Walt Disney Pictures release.
The film's home media, TV, and digital distribution rights were purchased by The Jim Henson Company from ITC Entertainment in August 1984.[8] Currently, Universal Pictures handles theatrical distribution[11]—due to prior contractual obligations with the former Associated Film Distribution and ITC.
The film's home media, TV, and digital distribution rights were not purchased by The Jim Henson Company from Walt Disney Studios upon their parent company's acquisition of the Muppets franchise in February 2004.
The Sesame Street Muppets only.
After the Muppets' acquisition to Disney in 2005.

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[1] Willman, David (1992-07-26). "Jim Henson's Children Put Together a String of Big Deals to Keep Alive". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-18.

[2] Gritten, David (1990-08-19). "The Next Muppetmeister?". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-18.

[3] Zonana, Victor F. (1991-04-18). "Henson Heirs Allege Disney Is Illegally Using Muppets". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-18.

[4] Citron, Alan (1990-12-14). "Miss Piggy and Friends Won't Get Together With Mickey and Minnie". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-18.

[5] New York Times

[6] Verrier, Richard (2003-05-08). "Muppets Returning to Hensons' Hands". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-18.

[7] Disney Corporate

[HensonBio-8] Jay Jones, Brian (2013). "Chapter 12: Twists and Turns". Jim Henson: The Biography. Ballantine Books (Random House). pp. 374–375. ISBN 978-0345526113.

[auto1-9] Thompson, Simon (July 25, 2019). "Remembering 'The Muppet Movie' At 40 With Gonzo". Forbes. Retrieved July 25, 2019.

[auto-10] "Make the Rainbow Connection Again as 'The Muppet Movie' Returns to the Big Screen in Honor of its 40th Anniversary on July 25 and 30". prnewswire. Fathom Events. June 3, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2020.

[12] "The Dark Crystal Returns to Movie Theaters". Fathom Events.

[insight-17] "Film releases". Variety Insight. Retrieved November 11, 2017.

[18] Lang, Brent (October 22, 2018). "Guillermo del Toro Directing 'Pinocchio' for Netflix". Variety. Retrieved October 22, 2018.

[19] Fleming, Mike (May 26, 2020). "Scott Derrickson Set To Direct 'Labyrinth' Sequel For TriStar Pictures; Maggie Levin To Write Script". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 26, 2020.

[rights_returned-11] The film's home media, TV, and digital distribution rights were purchased by The Jim Henson Company from ITC Entertainment in August 1984.[8] The film rights were then acquired by Walt Disney Studios upon their parent company's acquisition of the Muppets franchise in 2004.[9] Currently, Universal Pictures handles theatrical distribution[10]—due to prior contractual obligations with the former Associated Film Distribution and ITC—but the film's ownership and copyright are controlled by Disney, with home media reissues of the film branded as a Walt Disney Pictures release.

[13] The film's home media, TV, and digital distribution rights were purchased by The Jim Henson Company from ITC Entertainment in August 1984.[8] Currently, Universal Pictures handles theatrical distribution[11]—due to prior contractual obligations with the former Associated Film Distribution and ITC.

[rights_disney-14] The film's home media, TV, and digital distribution rights were not purchased by The Jim Henson Company from Walt Disney Studios upon their parent company's acquisition of the Muppets franchise in February 2004.

[muppets-15] The Sesame Street Muppets only.

[16] After the Muppets' acquisition to Disney in 2005.