Pretty much anything Jim Henson ever touched is gold right now. The Muppets proved to not only be a blockbuster hit last year, but ignited interest in them for the first time in years. Henson's Fraggle Rock is being turned into a feature film, even though it's so not worthy. Sorry, Fraggle Rock fans, not everything nostalgic was great. Nothing Henson ever did has had the cultural impact of Sesame Street, however. Since its creation in 1969, Big Bird, Grover, Cookie Monster and the rest of the gang have been a key tool in helping to education kids around the world. Is there anyone who didn't watch it, at least a little bit, as a kid? They haven't been in a feature film in years, but that's about to change.
THR reports that 20th Century Fox has scooped up the film rights to Sesame Street, with plans to bring it to the big screen. Shawn Levy(Real Steel) will be producing through his 21 Laps banner, with a script to be written by Joey Mazzarino, who has been writing for the TV series since 1998. The show has won over 138 Emmys over the course of its run, but if you ask some idiotic political talking heads, Sesame Street is a scourge indoctrinating our children. >sigh< How dare they teach our kids to share, to be smarter, and to be tolerant of others? A feature film will probably drive these folks nuts.
Sesame Street has been turned into feature films twice before. The first was in 1985's Follow That Bird. The second was in 1998's The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. Both featured a number of celebrity guest stars, but found little in the way of box office success.
