07/22/2026
"The Muppets Take Manhattan" screens tonight, July 22, at 7 p.m.! Thanks to our sponsor, Pizza Palace. As always, we'll have a raffle before the screening starts -- thank you to Cornelia Elsaesser for the gift certificate to Holistic Gateway!
"But wait... this isn't an animated film," you're probably saying under your breath. This could start the age-old debate of where exactly the Muppets fit -- are they puppets? Are they animation? What the heck is Animal, anyway?
Here at BFAF, we're going with this: The Muppets are freakin' cool. Ageless. Really loud. We can sing along with them. Or not. The Muppets don't judge.
Check out the sheer number of cameos in "The Muppets Take Manhattan." Brooke Shields. Gregory Hines. Joan Rivers. Ed Koch (then mayor of New York City). Art Carney. Liza Minnelli. Dabney Coleman. Elliot Gould. Linda Lavin. The gang from "Sesame Street" and of course, Jim Henson himself.
This is also the film where the Muppet Babies make their debut. Frank Oz reportedly didn't want to include them, but the Muppet Babies were a hit -- getting their own hugely popular animated series which ran from 1984 to 1991.
