Muppet Movies discontinued?? (1 Viewer)

[Vincent-P]

I went in to the Best Buy I work at tonight to buy "The Great Muppet Caper", but we were out. I checked our inventory system and found that it had been deleted from our system and we'd sent the one copy we had back to the warehouse. We were also out of "The Muppet Movie" and "Muppets Take Manhattan" (I didn't check on "Muppets From Space"). When I got home, I found out the DVDs for these movies can no longer be ordered from bestbuy.com circuitcity.com gohastings.com and amazon.com. Does anyone know what the deal is? I haven't heard anything about these going out of print.

 

[Chris Cheese]

Whoa, thanks for the heads up on this. I have three Muppet movies but still haven't gotten around to getting the original, so I think I'll do that ASAP before prices get too out of hand.

 

[paul:hillsdon]

I'm pretty sure they aren't OOP yet. Does anyone know how long the contract lasts for Home Video with Columbia before Disney gets the Muppets titles?

 

[Joshua Lane]

It depends on how the contract is setup, but Disney may have the right to terminate it at any time. If that's the case, then they're probably readying their own releases.

When Viacom completed it's purchase of Comedy Central, the switch to Paramount for their DVD's was pretty quick.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Any chance of correct (oar) versions of Muppet Treasure Island and A Muppet Christmas Carol?

 

[Stephen J*]

I think that Muppet Movie DVDs were still available at Costco, last time I checked.

 

[JasonPW]

The optimist in me says that Disney will recognize the original Muppet "trilogy" for the classics that they are, and give them each the same kind of lavish 2-disc treatment they gave "Old Yeller," "The Parent Trap", "The Love Bug" and other beloved live-action Disney titles.

(OT: The optimist in me also anxiously awaits season sets of "The Muppet Show" and the return of same to TV on ABC Family or the Disney Channel.)

The pessimist (realist???) in me says that I had better damn well hold on to my OAR copies of the "TMM," "TGMC," and "TMTM." And that the success or failure of this upcoming "Wizard of Oz" project will determine what, if any, Muppet stuff is coming our way.

Doc

 

[Malcolm R]

Yes, Costco recently had 2-packs of all the Columbia "Muppet" movies.

I'd imagine they'll all get re-issued by Disney in the future. The question is whether or not they'll be in OAR. They haven't shown such inclination with those they already control.

 

[Steve Phillips]

Those things are in all the bargain bins for around $5.00 at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, etc. Keep looking!

 

[WillG]

I think Disney has been pretty good on OAR lately. They just released a slew of titles (Flight of the Navigator, Freaky Friday, The Black Hole) and as far as I know, most of them were OAR when they could have easilly just released them full frame. In regards to OAR support, Disney is currently running circles around MGM and Columbia.

 

[Malcolm R]

I was referring specifically to their "Muppet" releases, Muppet Treasure Island and Muppet Christmas Carol, both released in Fullscreen only.

 

[WillG]

This is true. However, thre were released some time ago. Disney has improved since then. Maybe if they are taking control of the other Muppet movies we will see proper re-releases.

 

[Eric Emma]

As for the new TV Movie doing well I think it will, the last TV movie had solid numbers, and this should too. I mean Quentin Tarrantino has a cameo in it

 

[RomanSohor]

Well a few months ago Best Buy had the "Classic Three" Muppet Movies as a 3/$20 sale... I got a rain check on them, but they weren't getting back the Muppet Movie, so they offered me Muppets from Space instead, I turned it down... I figure Disney might make some good new DVDs.

 

[Andrew Radke]

I purchased the original 3 (Muppet Movie, Caper & Manhattan) through Columbia House 2 months ago. I haven't checked lately, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're still available.

 

[Chris Bardon]

As long as it's better than that last one-man did that suck... Couldn't even finish watching it after the first hour. Did they at least get Frank Oz back for this next one?

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

Was Frank Oz not in the last one?

 

[Ric Bagoly]

Oh jeez, I better get the first three!! :b

 

[Randy A Salas]

Buena Vista Home Entertainment (Disney) just reissued all of the Bear in the Big Blue House DVDs. No, that is not the Muppets, but it's another Jim Henson property.

But get this: All of the DVDs are the original Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment DVDs, right down to the CT logos on the packaging. BVHE has simply placed a sticker with a new UPC over the old UPC and reshrinkwrapped the DVDs. Even with that, there is no way to tell that this is now a BVHE "property."

I can't recall ever seeing anything like that occur with any title that changed distributors. Even all of the PBS titles were repackaged with Paramount artwork after it took over for Warner.

Getting back to the Muppets, this could be an indication that Disney isn't going to re-do the Muppet movies at all. It might just re-release the current CTHE DVDs with a new UPC.

Really odd.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

And the transfer on TMM especially is atrocious! It needs a restoration, big time!