The Muppet Christmas Carol

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Timing: 1:26 (86 min)

7.4/10
1139

6.556/10
1414

7.8/10
82000

All about film

Video 5

Photo 63

Actors and characters

Release date

1992-12-11

Country

United Kingdom, United States

Production

Walt Disney Pictures, Jim Henson Productions, The Jim Henson Company

Genre

Music, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Drama

Budget

$12 000 000

Revenue

$29 192 434

Website

Director

Brian Henson

Actors

Michael Caine, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, David Rudman, Don Austen, Jessica Fox, Robert Tygner, Steven Mackintosh
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Martin G. Baker, Brian Henson, Frank Oz

Operator

John Fenner

Composer

Miles Goodman

Artist

Audition

Suzanne Crowley, Mike Fenton, Gilly Poole

Editing

Michael Jablow
All team (33)

• A special doll was created for the filming, which was used in the pool and whose image was then inserted into the film to make it appear as if it was swimming or floating.
• This was the first major project with the Muppets after the death of their creator, Jim Henson (1926-1990). Kermit was played by Steve Whitmire, who admitted that playing such a famous character was not easy. According to Whitmire, the night before recording Kermit’s songs, he dreamed of Henson. In the dream, Whitmire met Henson in the hotel lobby and confessed how worried he was, to which Henson replied that there was no need to worry and that everything would be alright. Waking up the next morning, Whitmire felt great and was completely confident.
• Upon learning about the upcoming project, Michael Caine actively sought the role of Scrooge. He was unable to appear as a guest star on "The Muppet Show" (1976-1981) because the series was filmed in the UK, while he was living in the US at the time. Friends and colleagues – such as Roger Moore (1927-2017), John Cleese, Peter Sellers, and Sylvester Stallone – who did appear as guest stars on the show, told Caine how much fun they had and how their participation in the filming boosted their popularity with the children's audience. By the time the "The Muppet Christmas Carol" project was approved (in 1991), Caine had already returned to the UK. Learning that the film would be shot in London, Caine instructed his agent to pressure representatives of Jim Henson Productions until they agreed to meet with him. When such a meeting finally took place, he soon after received the role of Scrooge.
• Initially, producers wanted Jack Lemmon (1925-2001) to play Scrooge, but he insisted on being cast as Kermit. The producers said that Lemmon "must be crazy" and gave the role of Scrooge to Michael Caine.