The Muppet Christmas Carol Was Released 30 Years Ago Today

By Jamie Jirak

Today is a very important day in Muppets history. On December 11th, 1992, The Muppet Christmas Carol was released. The film marked the first of the franchise after the passing of Jim Henson and was helmed by his son, Brian Henson. The movie starred Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge and has become a holiday classic. The Muppets have been celebrating the anniversary in various ways, including sitting down with Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein to talk about making the film. This weekend, an extended version of The Muppet Christmas Carol with the cut song "When Love Is Gone" was released on Disney+. Today, The Muppets took to Instagram to celebrate the movie's anniversary. 

"30 years ago today, The Muppet Christmas Carol released in theaters. 🎄✨ Thank you to our fans who have made the film part of their annual holiday traditions. You're the gift that keeps on giving! In celebration of the 30th anniversary, you can find the Full-Length Version of The Muppet Christmas Carol, with the song 'When Love is Gone' restored in the film, in the Extras section only on @DisneyPlus," The Muppets shared. You can view their post below:

Was "When Love Is Gone" Really Lost? 

In 2018, Brian Henson told Big Issue that the deleted song was never restored for The Muppet Christmas Carol Blu-ray because the scene's original film negative was believed lost. 

"When we tried cutting it into the Blu-ray movie it looked terrible because you could tell we'd cut from high resolution to the original video release," Henson explained. "I'm still pressuring them to find it. They keep swearing to me that there is no way it has been lost forever, and I keep saying, 'but it's been 20 years!'" Henson added, "They're still searching. I call them like every month to ask if they're still looking. One of these days they'll find it."

In 2020, Henson confirmed the lost piece of the film had been found and would be restored for a 4K remaster.  

"They are all set with the full-length version again. I don't know if they are going to get it up on Disney+ in time for Christmas because they have all these processes," Henson explained at the time, "but it is coming back. The full-length version is coming back."

The Muppet Christmas Carol is now streaming on Disney+.

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