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![]() The Jim Henson Company Lot in Los Angeles | |
Formerly | Muppets, Inc. (1958–1976) Henson Associates, Inc. (1976–1987) Jim Henson Productions, Inc. (1987–1998) |
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Company type | Private |
Industry | Entertainment |
Founded | November 20, 1958 |
Founders | Jim and Jane Henson |
Headquarters | Jim Henson Company Lot, Los Angeles, California , U.S. |
Key people | Brian Henson (Chairman) Lisa Henson (President & CEO) |
Products | Puppetry, Animation, Computer graphics, Digital puppetry, Entertainment |
Brands |
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Owner | Henson family |
Parent | Independent (1958–2000, 2003–present) EM.TV & Merchandising AG (2000–2003) |
Divisions | Jim Henson's Creature Shop Henson Recording Studios Henson Alternative |
Website | www |
The Jim Henson Company is an American entertainment company. It started with Muppets, LLC. in 1958 by puppeteer Jim Henson. Henson is the creator of The Muppets.[1] The Muppets helped the company become popular worldwide. They were well known in family entertainment for more than forty years.[2]
In 1969, the company started making characters and more than 20 short movies for the popular children's show Sesame Street.
One of the company's first characters regularly on national television was Rowlf the Dog. He was first made for Purina Dog Chow commercials. He became famous when he became a regular character on The Jimmy Dean Show from 1963–66.
In 1976, British media mogul Lew Grade asked Jim Henson to make a weekly show based in England, which became The Muppet Show. The success of The Muppet Show led to many movies, specials, videos, and more.
In the early 1980s, Jim Henson also formed Jim Henson's Creature Shop. It made characters for shows such as The Storyteller, Farscape, and Dinosaurs; and movies such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. It was also in the 1980s that Jim Henson produced new television series such as Fraggle Rock and The Jim Henson Hour.
In 1990, Jim Henson was talking to The Walt Disney Company about selling his company. Henson died during the week that he was going to sign the contract. His family decided to have the company keep the rights to the characters.[3][4] However, on December 18, 1991, The Walt Disney Company bought the distribution rights to the entire Jim Henson Company library up to that time.[5]
In 2000, Jim Henson’s children sold the company to the German media company, EM.TV. In January 1, 2001 they sold the Sesame Street Muppets to Sesame Workshop. In 2003 Henson's children bought back the company.[6] In 2004, they sold the rights to The Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House characters to The Walt Disney Company.[7] The Walt Disney Company now owns all Muppet-related trademarks, including the word “Muppet”.
Production company | Title | Release date | Production partners | Distributor |
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Muppets Inc. | Time Piece | 1965 | Pathé Contemporary Films | |
The Cube | February 23, 1969 | NBC | ||
Henson Associates | The Muppet Movie | June 22, 1979 | ITC Entertainment | Associated Film Distribution[a] |
The Great Muppet Caper | June 22, 1981 | Universal Pictures[a] | ||
The Dark Crystal | December 17, 1982 | Universal Pictures[b] | ||
The Muppets Take Manhattan | July 13, 1984 | TriStar Pictures[c] | ||
Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird | August 2, 1985 | Children's Television Workshop[d] | Warner Bros. | |
Labyrinth | June 27, 1986 | Lucasfilm | TriStar Pictures | |
Jim Henson Productions | The Witches | August 24, 1990 | Lorimar Film Entertainment | Warner Bros. |
Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D | May 16, 1991 | Walt Disney Imagineering | Disney-MGM Studios Walt Disney Attractions | |
The Muppet Christmas Carol | December 11, 1992 | Walt Disney Pictures | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution | |
Gulliver's Travels | February 4, 1996 | Hallmark Entertainment | NBC | |
Muppet Treasure Island | February 16, 1996 | Walt Disney Pictures | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution | |
Jim Henson Pictures | Buddy | June 6, 1997 |
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Sony Pictures Releasing |
Muppets from Space | July 14, 1999 | Columbia Pictures[c] | ||
The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland | October 1, 1999 |
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Good Boy! | October 10, 2003 |
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The Jim Henson Pictures logo was uncredited. | |
The Jim Henson Company | Rat | October 6, 2000 (UK) |
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Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story | December 2, 2001 | Hallmark Entertainment | ||
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie | November 29, 2002 | Universal Pictures[c] | ||
Five Children and It | October 15, 2004 |
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Capitol Films | |
Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars | October 17, 2004 | Hallmark Entertainment | ||
The Muppets' Wizard of Oz | May 20, 2005 | Walt Disney Television | ||
MirrorMask | September 30, 2005 | Destination Films |
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Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs and a Baby | March 4, 2008 |
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Genius Products | |
Unstable Fables: Tortoise vs. Hare | September 9, 2008 | |||
Unstable Fables: The Goldilocks and the 3 Bears Show | December 16, 2008 | |||
Sid the Science Kid: The Movie | March 25, 2013 |
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PBS NCircle Entertainment | |
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day | October 10, 2014 |
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Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | |
Lily the Unicorn | June 26, 2015 |
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Amazon Prime Video | |
Turkey Hollow | November 21, 2015 | Lifetime | ||
The Star | November 17, 2017 |
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Sony Pictures Releasing | |
Dinosaur Train: Adventure Island | April 10, 2021 |
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PBS Universal Pictures | |
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio[13] | December 9, 2022 |
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The Portable Door | April 7, 2023 | Story Bridge Films | ||
Untitled Labyrinth spin-off sequel[14] | TBA |
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Muppet Man |
Production company | Title | Creator(s) / Developer(s) | Release date | Production partners | Network |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Henson Associates, Inc. | Fraggle Rock | Jim Henson | 1983–1987 | CBC (Canada) HBO Television South |
CBC (Canada) HBO (US) ITV (UK) |
Muppet Babies | Jim Henson (d): Jeffrey Scott |
1984–1991 | Marvel Productions | CBS | |
Little Muppet Monsters | Jim Henson | 1985 | |||
Jim Henson Productions, Inc. | Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series | Jim Henson (d): John Semper & Cynthia Friedlob |
1987 | NBC | |
The StoryTeller | Jim Henson (d): Anthony Minghella |
1988–1990 | TVS | NBC (US) Channel 4 (UK) HBO (US) (Greek Myths) | |
Mother Goose Stories’’ | 1988-1993 | Television South West | ITV (UK) The Disney Channel (U.S.) | ||
The Jim Henson Hour[c] | Jim Henson | 1989 | NBC | ||
The Ghost of Faffner Hall | Tyne Tees Television | ITV (UK) | |||
Dog City | Jim Henson (d): Peter Sauder J.D. Smith |
1992–1995 | Nelvana Limited | Fox Kids (USA) YTV (Canada) | |
CityKids | Jeffrey Solomon | 1993–1994 | The CityKids Foundation | ABC | |
Secret Life of Toys | 1994 | The Disney Channel (U.S.) BBC (UK) | |||
Jim Henson's Animal Show | 1994–1998 | Fox Kids (seasons 1–2) Animal Planet (season 3) | |||
Aliens in the Family | Andy Borowitz Susan Borowitz |
1996 | The Stuffed Dog Company | ABC | |
The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss | Dr. Seuss (characters) | 1996–1998 | Nickelodeon | ||
Jim Henson Television | Brats of the Lost Nebula | Dan Clark | 1998–99 | Decode Entertainment Wandering Monkey Entertainment |
The WB (U.S.) YTV (Canada) |
Mopatop's Shop | (d): Jocelyn Stevenson | 1999–2003 | Carlton Television | ITV (CITV) | |
Construction Site | 1999-2002 | ||||
Farscape | Rockne S. O'Bannon | 1999-2003 | Hallmark Entertainment | Nine Network (Australia) Sci-Fi Channel (USA) | |
The Hoobs | Jocelyn Stevenson Brian Henson |
2001–03 | Decode Entertainment | Channel 4 (UK) TVOKids (Canada) | |
Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola | 2001 | Hallmark Channel | |||
Bambaloo | 2002–03 | Yoram Gross-EM.TV | Seven Network | ||
Jim Henson Animation Studios | Frances [f] | Russell Hoban (d): Alex Rockwell Halle Stanford |
2007 | HIT Entertainment | Cartoonito |
The Jim Henson Company | Sid the Science Kid | 2008–13 | KCET (2008–09) KOCE-TV (2010–12) |
PBS Kids | |
Jim Henson's Pajanimals | Jeff Muncy and Alex Rockwell | 2008 (interstitials) 2011–12 (full length series) |
Sixteen South John Doze Studios Ingenious |
PBS Kids Sprout | |
Dinosaur Train[15] | Craig Bartlett | 2009–20 | Info-communications Media Development Authority Sparky Animation FableVision Snee-Oosh, Inc. (uncredited) Tail Waggin' Productions |
PBS Kids | |
Hot Dog TV | 2010 (interstitials) | Cartoon Network | |||
Me and My Monsters | Mark Grant Claudia Lloyd (d): Rebecca De Souza |
2010-2011 | Tiger Aspect Productions Sticky Pictures |
Network Ten (Australia) CBBC (UK) | |
Wilson & Ditch: Digging America | Joe Purdy Craig Bartlett |
2010-2012 | PBS Kids | ||
That Puppet Game Show | Jamie Ormerod | 2013–14 | BBC Entertainment | BBC One | |
Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge | 2014 | Syfy | |||
The Doozers | 2014–2018 | DHX Studios Halifax | Hulu (US) Kids' CBC (Canada) | ||
Hi Opie! | Barbara Slade | 2014–2016 | marblemedia | TVO Kids | |
Dot. | Randi Zuckerberg | 2016–2018 | Industrial Brothers | CBC Kids (Canada) Universal Kids (USA) | |
Splash and Bubbles | John Tartaglia | 2016–2018 | Herschend Studios | PBS Kids | |
Word Party | Alex Rockwell | 2016–2021 | Netflix | ||
Julie's Greenroom | Julie Andrews Emma Walton Hamilton Judy Rothman |
2017 | |||
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance[16][17] | Jim Henson (characters) (d): Jeffrey Addiss Will Matthews |
2019 | |||
Fraggle Rock: Rock On! | 2020 | Apple TV+ | |||
Duff's Happy Fun Bake Time | Duff Goldman | 2021 | Discovery+ | ||
Harriet the Spy[18] | 2021–present | Apple Studios Postworks New York Wellsville Pictures Titmouse, Inc. |
Apple TV+ | ||
Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock[19] | Jim Henson (original series) (d): Matt Fusfeld Alex Cuthbertson |
2022–present | New Regency Fusfeld & Cuthbertson Regional Entertainment | ||
Slumberkins[20] | Alex Rockwell | 2022 | |||
The Storyteller[21] | Jim Henson (original series) | TBA | Fremantle | ||
Top Puppet[22] | TBA | Talpa Media Universal Television Alternative Studio |
NBC | ||
Lore Olympus[23] | Rachel Smythe | TBA | Webtoon | ||
Monster Jam | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
Wowsabout | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
Dani Can Dance | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
Faeries | TBA | TBA | Amazon | Prime Video |
Production company | Title | Creator(s) / Developer(s) | Release date | Production partners | Network | Notes |
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Henson Associates, Inc. | The Muppet Show | Jim Henson | 1976-1981 | Associated Television ITC Entertainment |
ITV (UK) Syndication (US) |
Buena Vista Home Entertainment released the three seasons on DVD in Region 1 in 2005 and 2008. The rights to the episodes and characters used in The Muppet Show, and subsequent film outings, were bought in February 2004 by The Walt Disney Company’s Muppets Holding Company. The Muppet Show was released for streaming on Disney+ on February 19, 2021. |
Jim Henson Productions, Inc. | Dinosaurs | Michael Jacobs Bob Young (d): Jim Henson |
1991–1994 | Michael Jacobs Productions Walt Disney Television |
ABC | |
Muppets Tonight | 1996–1998 | ABC Disney Channel | ||||
Jim Henson Television | Bear in the Big Blue House[g] | Mitchell Kriegman | 1997–2006 | Shadow Projects | Playhouse Disney | In 2004, The Jim Henson Company sold the rights to the show, including characters, content library and copyrights, to The Walt Disney Company; it is now owned by The Muppets Studio, a subsidiary of Disney that also owns, and is named after, The Muppets characters and copyrights. |
The Jim Henson Company | The Fearing Mind | Billy Brown | 2000–01 | Angel/Brown Productions | Fox Family | |
Animal Jam[h] | John Derevlany | 2003 | TLC Discovery Kids |
The only filmed puppet stage show was completed to not receive any Disney network to aired on television.[i] | ||
The Possibility Shop | Courtney Watkins | 2009–2011 | ||||
Earth to Ned[25][26] | 2020–2021 | Marwar Junction Productions | Disney+ | The series was later removed on Disney+ from 2023 to onwards. |