After seeing Forgetting Sarah Marshall the other night at SXSW, it was no surprise to me that Disney had hired the star/writer Jason Segel and director Nick Stoller behind Judd Apatow’s latest to develop the next Muppet movie. Segel and Stoller will write the screenplay and Stoller will direct.

A major sequence in Sarah Marshall features a huge vampire love story stageplay acted out with puppets, which were created by the Henson puppeteers. Also at one point Segel’s character also sang/played The Muppet Show theme song on the piano. Segal pitched an idea for a new Muppet movie during a general meeting with executive Kristin Burr.

The early Muppet films were absolutely genius, but the last few failed due to an attempt to dumb down the plot/jokes to appeal to young viewers. I’m sure Segel and Stoller understand what direction to take the franchise, it’s just a question of if Henson/Disney will allow them the chance to actually make it happen.

Discuss: Could Segel and Stoller create another great Muppet movie, or is the Muppet franchise dead?

source: [1] Variety