It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
   HOME
*





It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
''It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie'' is a 2002 American musical fantasy comedy television film directed by Kirk R. Thatcher and written by Tom Martin and Jim Lewis. The film premiered November 29, 2002 on NBC and the first film to be made for television for ''The Muppets'' franchise. It stars Steve Whitmire, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, Eric Jacobson, Dave Arquette, Joan Cusack, Matthew Lillard, William H. Macy, and Whoopi Goldberg. The plot centers on Kermit the Frog who, after losing all hope for saving the Muppet Theatre, is assisted by an angel who shows him a world in which he was never born. The film is a homage to Frank Capra's 1946 film ''It's a Wonderful Life'', which has a similar plot. This was the first Muppets production without the involvement of veteran Muppet performer Frank Oz. Instead, Eric Jacobson performed Oz's characters Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, and Animal, marking his feature film debut as those characters. The film is also one of the few Muppets ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

The Muppets
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety- sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses television, film, music, and other media associated with the characters. Originally owned by The Jim Henson Company for nearly five decades, the franchise was purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 2004. The Muppets originated in the short-form television series ''Sam and Friends'', which aired from 1955 to 1961. Following appearances on late night talk shows and in advertising during the 1960s, the Muppets began appearing on ''Sesame Street'' (1969–present), and attained celebrity status and international recognition through '' The Muppet Show'' (1976–1981), which received four Primetime Emmy Award wins and twenty-one nominations during its five-year run. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Muppets diversified into theatrical films, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Warren Carr
Warren Carr (died 1993) was an Australian singer, composer, producer and musician, specializing in country music, country and rock 'n' roll, although his music was better described as Honky Tonk piano party style. He is best known for his 20-year involvement as in-house pianist in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC children's TV show, ''Play School (Australian TV series), Play School''. Biography The Newcastle, New South Wales-born Carr started his career at a young age, and 1960 featured in John Konrads Kaydets. He recorded numerous covers including songs by Floyd Cramer. In the 1960s, he performed with a number of Australian rock artists, including Johnny O'Keefe, Warren Williams (rock musician), Warren Williams and Jimmy Little. He produced a number of his own albums for Leedon Records. His single ''Li'l Ole Me'' reached number 9 in the Sydney charts, he also appeared on O' Keefe's Six O'Clock Rock music program. Warren was the pianist on ABCs Play School from the y ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Frank Oz
Frank Oz (born Frank Richard Oznowicz; May 25, 1944) is an American actor, puppeteer, and filmmaker. He began his career as a puppeteer, performing the Muppet characters of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle in ''The Muppet Show'', and Cookie Monster, Bert, and Grover in ''Sesame Street''. He also puppeteered and/or provided the voice for Yoda in the ''Star Wars'' series. His work as a director includes '' The Dark Crystal'' (1982), ''The Muppets Take Manhattan'' (1984), ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986), '' Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' (1988), ''What About Bob?'' (1991), '' In & Out'' (1997), '' Death at a Funeral'' (2007), and an episode of the US television series '' Leverage'' (2011). Early life Oz was born on May 25, 1944, in Hereford, Herefordshire, England; the son of Frances (née Ghevaert; 1910–1989) and Isadore Oznowicz (1916–1998), both of whom were puppeteers. Some of their puppets survived the war and were presented at the Contemporary Jewish M ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

It's A Wonderful Life
''It's a Wonderful Life'' is a 1946 American Christmas by medium#Films, Christmas Fantasy film, fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet ''The Greatest Gift'', which Philip Van Doren Stern self-published in 1943 and is in turn loosely based on the 1843 Charles Dickens novella ''A Christmas Carol''. The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey (It's a Wonderful Life), George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams in order to help others in his community and whose thoughts of suicide on Christmas Eve bring about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George all the lives he touched and what the world would be like if he did not exist. Theatrically, the film's break-even point was $6.3 million, about twice the production cost, a figure it did not come close to achieving on its initial release. Because of the film's disappointing sales, Capra was seen by some stud ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Italy and raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, his rags-to-riches story has led film historians such as Ian Freer to consider him the " American Dream personified".Freer 2009, pp. 40–41. Capra became one of America's most influential directors during the 1930s, winning three Academy Awards for Best Director from six nominations, along with three other Oscar wins from nine nominations in other categories. Among his leading films were ''It Happened One Night'' (1934), ''Mr. Deeds Goes to Town'' (1936), '' You Can't Take It with You'' (1938), and '' Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (1939). During World War II, Capra served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and produced propaganda films, such as the ''Why We Fight'' seri ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Kermit The Frog
Kermit the Frog is a Muppet character created and originally performed by Jim Henson. Introduced in 1955, Kermit serves as the everyman protagonist of numerous Muppet productions, most notably ''Sesame Street'' and ''The Muppet Show'', as well as in other television series, feature films, specials, and public service announcements through the years. He served as a mascot of The Jim Henson Company and appeared in various Henson projects. Kermit performed the hit singles "Bein' Green" in 1970 for ''Sesame Street'' and "Rainbow Connection" in 1979 for ''The Muppet Movie'', the first feature-length film featuring the Muppets. Kermit's original performance of "Rainbow Connection" reached No. 25 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2021. Henson performed Kermit until his death in 1990, and then Steve Whitmire performed Kermit from that time until his dismissal in 2016. Kermit has been performed by Matt Vogel from 2017 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

The Muppets (franchise)
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses television, film, music, and other media associated with the characters. Originally owned by The Jim Henson Company for nearly five decades, the franchise was purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 2004. The Muppets originated in the short-form television series ''Sam and Friends'', which aired from 1955 to 1961. Following appearances on late night talk shows and in advertising during the 1960s, the Muppets began appearing on ''Sesame Street'' (1969–present), and attained celebrity status and international recognition through ''The Muppet Show'' (1976–1981), which received four Primetime Emmy Award wins and twenty-one nominations during its five-year run. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Muppets diversified into theatrical films, includin ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Kirk R
Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning "church". It is often used specifically of the Church of Scotland. Many place names and personal names are also derived from it. Basic meaning and etymology As a common noun, ''kirk'' (meaning 'church') is found in Scots, Scottish English, Ulster-Scots and some English dialects, attested as a noun from the 14th century onwards, but as an element in placenames much earlier. Both words, ''kirk'' and ''church'', derive from the Koine Greek κυριακόν (δωμα) (kyriakon (dōma)) meaning ''Lord's (house)'', which was borrowed into the Germanic languages in late antiquity, possibly in the course of the Gothic missions. (Only a connection with the idiosyncrasies of Gothic explains how a Greek neuter noun became a Germanic feminine). Whereas ''church'' displays Old English palatalisation, ''kirk'' is a loanword from Old Norse and thus retains the original mainland Germanic consonants. Compare cognates: Icelandic ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Television Film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for initial showing in movie theaters, and direct-to-video films made for initial release on home video formats. In certain cases, such films may also be referred to and shown as a miniseries, which typically indicates a film that has been divided into multiple parts or a series that contains a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Origins and history Precursors of "television movies" include ''Talk Faster, Mister'', which aired on WABD (now WNYW) in New York City on December 18, 1944, and was produced by RKO Pictures, and the 1957 ''The Pied Piper of Hamelin'', based on the poem by Robert Browning, and starring Van Johnson, one of the first filmed "family musicals" made directly for television. That film was made in Technicolor, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Comedy Film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film and it is derived from the classical comedy in theatre. Some of the earliest silent films were comedies, as slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions, without requiring sound. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1930s, comedy films took another swing, as laughter could result from burlesque situations but also dialogue. Comedy, compared with other film genres, puts much more focus on individual stars, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to the film industry due to their popularity. In '' The Screenwriters Taxonomy'' (2017), Eric R. Williams contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character, and story. Therefore the labels "drama" and "comedy" are t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Fantasy Film
Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction films and horror films, although the genres do overlap. Fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth, wonder, escapism, and the extraordinary. Prevalent elements include fairies, angels, mermaids, witches, monsters, wizards, unicorns, dragons, talking animals, ogres, elves, trolls, white magic, gnomes, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, dwarves, giants, goblins, anthropomorphic or magical objects, familiars, curses and other enchantments, worlds involving magic, and the Middle Ages. Subgenres Several sub-categories of fantasy films can be identified, although the delineations between these subgenres, much as in fantasy literature, are somewhat fluid. The most common fantasy subgenres depicted in movies are High Fantasy a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Musical Film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate "production numbers". The musical film was a natural development of the stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery and locations that would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if a live audience were watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the diegetic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it. With the advent of sound in the late 1920s, musicals gained popularity with the public and are exemplified by the films of Busby Ber ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]