The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson. Individually, a Muppet is properly one of the puppets made by Jim Henson or his company's workshop. Although the term is often used erroneously to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show and Sesame Street characters, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark linked to the characters created by Henson.
The word "Muppet" itself was said by Henson to have been created by combining the words "marionette" and "puppet"; however, Henson was also known to have stated that it was just something he liked the sound of, and he made up the "marionette/puppet" story while talking to a journalist because it sounded plausible.
After earlier unsuccessful attempts, The Walt Disney Company finally bought the Muppets in 2004. Exceptions include characters appearing on Sesame Street (as they were previously sold to Sesame Workshop), the Fraggles of Fraggle Rock (which are owned by The Jim Henson Company), along with the above-mentioned non-"Muppet"-brand characters. The legal trademark on the term "Muppet" is currently held by The Muppet Holding Co., LLC (a division of the Walt Disney Company); although Sesame Workshop and the Jim Henson Company continue to use the term on their characters with certain permissions.
After nearly a decade, a new movie is in the works. Disney recently enlisted Jason Segel and Nick Stoller to create the next Muppet movie for the studio.
