New, Restored Cut of ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’ Headed for Disney+
In a present for fans, the restored, 4K version of the movie will feature long-deleted song ‘When Love is Gone’.
1992's 'The Muppet Christmas Carol.'
Christmas is a time for gifts and also for watching ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’, which originally hit theaters in 1992 and starred Michael Caine as Ebeneezer Scrooge, alongside a smattering of other human actors and most of the key roles played by Kermit and the gang.
It has long since become an annual holiday favorite for many people, as much a part of Christmas tradition as turkey, trees and traumatic shopping experiences.
But for almost as many years, Muppet fans have been wondering when they might see missing song ‘When Love is Gone’ re-integrated back into the movie itself after so much time spent as a poor-quality deleted scene on home entertainment releases and as an extra on the Disney+ version.
It’s always seemed a surprising decision, since the song is a key emotional moment from Scrooge’s past and his heartbreaking decision to eschew true love Belle (Meredith Braun) for his pursuit of financial gain. The melody of the Paul Williams-penned song plays into Miles Goodman’s score and the final song ‘When Love is Found’ directly references it.
There is good news, then, for those that have loved the take on Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic tale of ghosts and redemption. As revealed during a 30-year retrospective panel for the movie at this year’s D23 Expo, the full movie will finally be available to watch for the first time.
Director Brian Henson told the D23 panel audience the story of how then-Disney boss Jeff Katzenberg demanded that the song be edited out of the movie after a test screening where he noticed that kids were getting restless through the mournful (yet also quite lovely) ballad.
Henson negotiated a deal: the song would be removed for the theatrical release but restored for home entertainment. Yet when the time rolled around for that, a proper negative couldn’t be found.
Despite a years-long search, nothing was turned up, at least until just recently, when a print containing the song was discovered, meaning that the full version could be made ready in 4K format for Disney+.
It’ll premiere on the streaming service on December 11th, though we’re still waiting to lean if it’ll become the main version of the movie or become part of the extras.
In related Muppets news, there was also an announcement about a new recording of a classic track from band The Electric Mayhem. With the group preparing to hit Disney+ next year with ‘The Muppets Mayhem’, they’ve released an updated version of “Can You Picture That?”, originally performed in 1979’s ‘The Muppet Movie’.
The new series follows The Electric Mayhem on their journey to record their first ever studio album. The old-school band is helped along the way by Lily Singh’s Nora, a young music executive with her finger on the pulse of the current music scene. Also starring in the series are Tajh Mowry, Saara Chaudry, and Anders Holm.
