The Happytime Murders, Brian Henson’s weird, grim take on a world where puppets and humans live alongside each other, has been in development limbo for years—but it looks like the Jim Henson Company has finally gotten the ball rolling on the project again. Yes, puppet noir may actually be coming to the big screen.
The Hollywood Reporter says that Jim Henson Company have partnered up with STX Entertainment to put the film into active development—emphasis on the active there, because Henson has been attempting to get the film produced for seven years at this point, making this the most significant step forward for the project in a long time. Originally the script came from Todd Berger and Dee Robertson, but THR adds that the latest version has been written by RED and RED 2 writers Erich and Jon Hoeber.
The last time we heard about The Happytime Murders, it followed the story of an alcoholic ex-LAPD detective puppet investigating the gruesome murders of the former puppet stars of a 1980s kids show alongside his human ex-partner—which honestly sounds like a pretty damn fantastic set up for a film. Let’s hope something concrete actually happens this time.
