Here are the details reported about the Muppet Babies lawsuit, and it is more complex than you might think!
“In 2015, Disney began the early stages of developing the new Muppet Babies show,” the October 22 filing says. “In early 2016, Disney executives met with Scott at their request, and he presented detailed ideas for the show’s updated structure, look and characters, and for new episodes, with the understanding on both sides that, if Disney used Scott’s ideas and produced new episodes, it would pay for Scott’s ideas and honor the commitments that Disney’s predecessor, Marvel, and Jim Henson, made to him,” the complaint continues. “A Disney executive then emailed Scott asking him to send Disney his ideas in writing, which Scott did.”
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“Scott is informed and believes that, when Disney executives D’Ambrosia and Sapire solicited Scott’s ideas for a Muppet Babies reboot, they and their superiors at Disney knew, and concealed from Scott, that Disney had assembled or was assembling a production team for the reboot, and that they and their superiors had no intention of offering Scott an opportunity to work on the reboot or to pay him for his ideas, which they intended to use without complying with their obligations under the parties’ implied agreement,” the jury trial seeking filing states.
Credit: What’s On Disney Plus
In addition to all of this, Scott claims that he owns production assets from the original Muppet Babies which were copyrighted in the ’80s. Also, he says he had a “long held verbal deal with the Jim Henson Company,” which Disney now owns, that they are no longer honoring.