The tagline of the upcoming movie The Happytime Murders is “No Sesame. All Street.” And Sesame Street isn’t happy.
The makers of Sesame Street are suing the distributor of the Melissa McCarthy movie, saying it’s abusing the famed puppets’ sterling reputation to advertise the film.
A judge this Friday scheduled a hearing next week to consider a request for immediate relief by Sesame Workshop, which sued Thursday in federal court for unspecified damages.
The film, The Happytime Murders, is scheduled for release August 17, 2018. McCarthy plays a human detective who teams with a puppet partner to investigate grisly puppet murders.
The lawsuit said the Sesame Street brand will be harmed by a just-released movie trailer featuring “explicit, profane, drug-using, misogynistic, violent, copulating and even ejaculating puppets” along with the tagline “NO SESAME. ALL STREET.”
The irony in all of this is that the late Jim Henson, the creator of The Muppets and all of the characters on Sesame Street, has a son, one Brian Henson. And it is Brian who directed the film and it is Jim Henson’s company that created the characters on Sesame Street that also made the Muppets in the movie The Happytime Murders.
Do stay tuned. Either way you look at it, this is a lot of great, free publicity for the film.
Sesame Street Sues Happytime Murders Distributor.
