The Muppets film, "Muppets from Space", released by Columbia Pictures in 1999. In 2000, Henson was sold to EM.TV & Merchandising AG for $680 million. However, EM.TV was plagued with financial problems and the Henson family re-acquired the company in 2003, with the exception of the rights to the "Sesame Street" characters, which had been sold by EM.TV to Sesame Workshop. Fourteen years after initial negotiations began, Disney acquired the Muppets intellectual property from the Jim Henson Company for $75 million on February 17, 2004. The acquisition consisted of the Muppets and "Bear in the Big Blue House" properties, as well as
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV series) visited the derelict remains of old Chicago). The first made-for-TV movie was released theatrically in March 1979 as "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century". The film made $21 million at the North American box office, prompting Universal to move ahead with a weekly series later that year. The film, which was also released internationally, featured all of the main protagonist characters who would appear in the weekly series, including Princess Ardala of the planet Draconia, and her henchman, Kane. The theatrical film also served as a pilot and two-part first episode for the series, entitled "Awakening". Several scenes were edited,