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
The Muppets (TV series) Muppets" on May 12, 2016 after one season. After being dismissed from The Muppets performer troupe in 2017, Steve Whitmire talked to the media about how he provided notes on scripts for the series, saying that the longtime performers know the characters best. He cited the episode "Little Green Lie" as an example of the characters' being scripted wrong, noting: "The Muppets" premiered on September 22, 2015 on ABC in the United States. It was broadcast on Sky 1 in the UK, starting Monday October 19, 2015. The series was also acquired by the Seven Network in Australia and premiered