Muppets Holiday Classic Lands on Disney+

By Russ Burlingame

This year saw the release of Muppets Haunted Mansion in time for Halloween, but Disney+ hasn't got a new Muppets Christmas movie. Instead, they reached into the Disney vault and pulled out a fan-favorite TV special from 2008. While the special, titled A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa was released to DVD, and has been available to rent or buy digitally, fans couldn't stream it for free this season before now. Of course, fans were excited to see it dropping on Disney+, but immediately started asking about the possibility of the release of another Muppets holiday favorite.

That's A Muppet Family Christmas, which was released in 1987. Between some expensive music licensed for the TV movie, and the fact that it included characters from The Muppets (now owned by Disney), Fraggle Rock (still at the Jim Henson Company), and Sesame Street (owned by Sesame Workshop), it's impossible to legally see the unedited, original version of the special (although you can watch a VHS rip on YouTube if you really want to).

In the special, The Muppets head off on a mission to personally deliver three letters to Santa Claus, which had been inadvertently diverted by Gonzo. A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa stars Nathan Lane, Madison Pettis, Uma Thurman, and Richard Griffiths as Santa Claus.

You can see Disney+'s announcement of the special below.

Muppets Haunted Mansion seems to have been a critical and ratings success for Disney+, which is good, because so far their track record with the Muppets has been spotty. Josh Gad's Muppets Live Another Day, which would have been a sequel to Muppets Take Manhattan, was cancelled before it got off the ground. Muppets Now and the Jim Henson Company's Earth to Ned both aired to warm fan response but have yet to be renewed for second seasons.

In addition to A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa and A Muppet Family Christmas, other holiday specials that fans are hoping to see include A Christmas Together, the Muppets' special with John Denver, and the uncut version of Muppets Christmas Carol.

Are you excited to see A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa on Disney+? What's your favorite Muppet movie? Let us know in the comments or hit up @russburlingame on Twitter for all things Muppets.

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