While it was an easy victory to predict, one of the most thrilling wins at the Academy Awards last year was singer-songwriter Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords taking home the Oscar for "Man or Muppet" for The Muppets. Sure, because of Oscar's endlessly perplexing rules it was only up against some song from the fun but forgettable animated musical Rio, but nonetheless it seemed a sign that the Muppets were undeniably back. After an absence from film for more than a decade, their new movie was not only a blockbuster with nearly universal critical praise, but also an Oscar-winner!
Predictably news on a sequel followed soon thereafter. The Muppets' director James Bobin and screenwriter Nicholas Stoller are developing Muppets 2 (not the official title, but used here for brevity), but surprisingly Jason Segel—who wrote, starred and spearheaded the film's creation—opted not to return. This left just one more key person to be brought back in to the fold, and now Collider confirms via producer Todd Lieberman that the Oscar-winning McKenzie will be penning more happy and catchy songs for Kermit and the gang in Muppets 2!
As to what kind of trouble the colorful crew will get up to in the sequel, we know the movie will take the crew to Europe, where Christoph Waltz could play an Interpol inspector who is presumably on their tail. Lieberman further reveals there will be some new additions to the Muppets cast of characters, and that the film will roll into production late January in London's Pinewood Studio, where legendary Muppeteer Frank Oz shot his puppet-centric horror-comedy Little Shop of Horrors in 1986. Production will continue through April, and could involve some location shoots in and about London.
With shooting in London and the implications of some sort of crime coming into play, it seems Stoller and Bobin are looking to The Great Muppet Caper for inspiration. Of course to live up to that Muppet classic, they'll need to include some seriously spectacular puppetry and plenty of cheeky celebrity cameos. But it's not like that's new to them now!
