Muppets fans rejoice! A new Muppets special is coming exclusively to Disney+ and it’s going to be a celebration of yet another staple of the Disney enterprise: The Haunted Mansion.
It was big news back in February when The Muppet Show began airing on the streaming platform. If that didn’t show fans that Disney truly was serious about the ownership of the franchise, an all-new special certainly will.
In true Disney fashion, the news was announced through a short video starring (the Great) Gonzo and Pepe the King Prawn, which was shared across the Muppets’ social channels, which you can see above!
Not much is known about the special, including the date it’s set to be released. All we know is that it will drop on Disney+ “this fall” and, according to Gonzo, will be “hilarious and harrowing.”
The Muppets have had a long history with movies and television shows, making their debut on TV back in 1976 with The Muppet Show. That was followed up three years later with The Muppet Movie, and the franchise has been a juggernaut ever since. The fuzzy puppets have made appearances in seven more big-screen films since then, being seen most recently in the tepid Muppets Most Wanted in 2014.
Their television appearances have more numerous than their films, showing up in almost every aspect from their childhood (Muppet Babies) to remakes of classic films (The Muppets Wizard of Oz).
The Haunted Mansion, meanwhile, is a beloved attraction in three of Disney’s biggest parks; Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disneyland. The attraction takes riders through…well, a haunted mansion occupied by a myriad of ghosts. The specters are created through the use of 3D projectors, and if you’ve never been through it before, it is pretty impressive. Also impressive is how the ride undergoes a full transformation every Halloween to incorporate the characters from A Nightmare Before Christmas.
The Haunted Mansion has seen a number of adaptations over the years, including a comic book series and a live-action film starring Eddie Murphy in 2003. Interestingly, Disney has on its slate of films a reboot to the Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion film, which at one point was spearheaded by Guillermo del Toro. Though Toro is no longer attached to direct the project, he is still on board as co-writer and producer of the film. It will be interesting to see how both this reboot and the Muppets Haunted Mansion take their influence from the ride.
What do you think of Muppet Haunted Mansion? Are you excited about the project, or is this just another way for Disney to squeeze money out of two of their franchises? Let us know down below in the comments or shout us out on Twitter!
