For Disney, The Muppets proved to be a man at the box office and with fans of the classic Jim Henson characters. After more than a decade away from the silver screen(unless you count those Elmo movies), James Bobin, Nicholas Stoller, and Jason Segel brought Kermit and Miss Piggy back into the limelight to the tune of of over $150M. That made it the highest grossing Muppets film yet, and even earned itself an Academy Award victory in the process. Not too shabby. Plus, it turned out to be one of the more satisfying movies of the year.
So there will be a lot of folks happy to learn that Bobin and Stoller have struck a deal to head up a sequel, with Bobin back to direct and Stoller writing the script. Reason for applause? Absolutely, but everything isn't coming up roses. Segel, who has become an A-list leading man in his own right, will be too busy with TV show commitments and his upcoming film projects to co-write the script. That doesn't mean he won't be involved when production gets underway. Since it was mainly Segel's enthusiasm that got The Muppets ball rolling in the first place, how can you possibly do a sequel without him?
The bigger question is whether or not Amy Adams and composer Bret McKenzie will be back. McKenzie almost certainly will, considering the success it brought him and the overwhelming popularity of the film's soundtrack. Adams is probably less certain, with not much being lost if she was written out somehow.
Will The Muppets' popular momentum last all the way until a sequel? Or will the gang fade into obscurity in the mean time? [Vulture]
