The Happytime Murders (2018)
Directed by Brian Henson, The Happytime Murders stars Melissa McCarthy as Detective Connie Edwards, a cop in a fictionalized Los Angeles where humans and puppets coexist alongside one another. When cast members from a sitcom start getting murdered, Edwards must team up with her old partner Phil Phillips, a puppet private investigator, to find the killer. Bill Barretta stars alongside McCarthy as Phil, with a further cast that includes Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale, Elizabeth Banks, and Leslie David Baker.
Happytime Murder
- Director
- Brian Henson
- Release Date
- August 24, 2018
- Cast
- Maya Rudolph , Ryan Gaul , Leslie David Baker , Elizabeth Banks , Cynthy Wu , Melissa McCarthy , Jimmy O. Yang , Bill Barretta , Fortune Feimster , Joel McHale , Brian Henson
- Writers
- Todd Berger , Jon Hoeber , Dee Robertson , Erich Hoeber
- Runtime
- 91minutes
- Budget
- $40 million
Summary
When the puppet cast of an '80s children's TV show begins to get murdered one by one, a disgraced LAPD detective-turned-private eye puppet takes on the case. This film has been in development for a decade, first announced back in 2008. Originally, Cameron Diaz was offered the lead role, but she passed and was replaced by Katherine Heigl. The Happytime Murders continued to linger in development hell for several years, eventually being picked up by STX Entertainment in 2015. Jamie Foxx was in negotiations to star at the time, but Melissa McCarthy was officially cast in the main human part in 2017. She also did uncredited rewrites of the script. Principal photography started in September 2017. Want to know more about The Happytime Murders?
Watch The Happytime Murders Trailer
Sesame Street Loses Happytime Murders Lawsuit
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The Happytime Murders Review: A Muppet Movie Misfire
The Happytime Murders tries to mine all its comedy from R-rated puppet antics and Melissa McCarthy's typical schtick, but the jokes quickly wear thin.
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The new Happytime Murders red band trailer includes 'praise' from Twitter users for the Jim Henson Company's puppet murder mystery-comedy.
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STX shuffles their August release lineup, with The Happytime Murders and Mile 22 both getting pushed back to later release dates.
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Happytime Murders - the Henson puppet comedy that plays on the film noir detective genre and stars Melissa McCarthy - gets a 2018 release date.
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The long-gestating noir puppet project The Happytime Murders has landed Melissa McCarthy as both star and producer on the film.
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Lionsgate has picked up 'Happytime Murders', a dark comedy to be directed by Jim Henson's son Brian, featuring Muppets, murder and mayhem.