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 Muppet Show the Muppets: Rocky Mountain Holiday"), while Dudley Moore reappeared in the special, "The Muppets Go to the Movies". Additionally, several guest stars from the series had cameos in one of the first three Muppet theatrical films. Originally, the producers had to call on their personal contacts to appeal to them to appear, especially considering that doing so meant an overseas trip to Britain to do so. However, the situation changed when the renowned ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev offered to appear; his performance on this unusual TV program produced so much favourable publicity that the series became one of the most