Jim Henson's Creature Shop
Parent The Jim Henson Company | | |
Website | creatureshop |
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Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by puppeteer
History
Jim Henson's Creature Shop was originally created as a partnership with British illustrator
It was relocated to Camden Town following Henson's death in 1990 and his son, Brian Henson, took over.[1] A third location in Burbank, California opened to serve Hollywood, and one of its first projects was the Dinosaurs television series.[2] Its main animatronic supervisor is London native David Barrington-Holt.[3]
Since
The location at Camden Town, London closed in Spring 2005, and was converted into a luxury apartment known as The Henson.[4]
In addition to practical effects, the shop also specializes in "digital puppetry", a form of computer animation that controls a digital avatar using manual puppet controls to animate them more quickly and easily than if it was entirely digital.[2] This is known as the "Henson Digital Puppetry Studio" and is used extensively in television, including the entirety of the series Sid the Science Kid.[2]
Besides films, the Creature Shop has created costumes for live events. They created a realistic Smilodon "full-suit puppet" for a show at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, which cost more than $100,000.[5]
Selected filmography
- Sesame Street (1969–present) (puppets (built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, New York))
- The Dark Crystal (1982) (creature effects)
- Return to Oz (1985) (creature effects and puppets)
- Dreamchild (1985) (creature effects)
- Labyrinth (1986) (creature effects)
- The Storyteller(1987) (creature effects)
- The Bear (1988) (creature effects)
- Lighthouse Island (1989) (visual effects)
- Monster Maker (1989)
- The Ghost of Faffner Hall (1989) (puppets)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) (creature effects)
- The Witches (1990) (creature effects)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) (creature effects)
- Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken (1991) (creature effects)
- Dinosaurs (1991-1994) (creature effects)
- The Polar Bear King (1991) (creature effects)
- Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992) (Big Bunny plush doll)
- The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) (special character effects and miniatures)
- Wolf It (1993-1996) (Bro and Bro puppets)
- The Neverending Story III(1994) (creature effects)
- The Flintstones (1994) (creature effects)
- Babe (1995) (creature effects)
- Cutthroat Island (1995) (animatronics)
- 101 Dalmatians (1996) (creature effects)
- The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996) (creature effects)
- The English Patient (1996) (prosthetic effects)
- Muppet Treasure Island (1996) (miniatures)
- The Phantom (1996) (The Phantom suit)
- Samson and Delilah (1996) (mechanical lion)
- Buddy (1997) (creature effects)
- George of the Jungle (1997) (creature effects)
- The Odyssey (1997) (creature effects)
- Lost in Space (1998) (creature effects)
- Dr. Dolittle(1998) (creature effects)
- Jack Frost (1998) (Jack Frost snowman effects)
- Alice In Wonderland (1999) (creature effects)
- Animal Farm (1999) (creature effects)
- My Favorite Martian (1999) (Martian creature design)
- The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) (visual effects)
- Mission to Mars (2000) (wire removal)
- The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000) (animatronic creature effects)
- Rat (2000) (creature effects)
- Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) (creature effects)
- Cats & Dogs (2001) (creature effects)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) (creature effects)
- Gosford Park (2001) (digital effects)
- Snow Dogs (2002) (animatronic Demon)
- Stuart Little 2 (2002) (creature effects)
- The Master of Disguise (2002) (specialty props)
- The Country Bears (2002) (creature effects)
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) (stand-in puppets)
- The Ladykillers (2004) (puppets)
- Around the World in 80 Days (2004) (visual effects)
- 5 Children & It (2004) (character animation, visual effects, digital puppetry and animatronics)
- Pride (2004) (visual effects and animatronics)
- Are We There Yet? (2005) (performance animation)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) (puppet fabrication)
- The Scarecrow)
- Mee-Shee: The Water Giant (2005) (creature effects, visual effects and digital puppetry)
- The Producers (2005) (creature effects)
- The Darjeeling Limited (2007) (animatronic tiger)
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) (puppets)
- The Hangover (2009) (tiger in car)
- Where the Wild Things Are (2009) (creature effects)
- The Muppets (2011) (puppet costumes only)
- Muppets Most Wanted (2014) (puppets, along with Puppet Heap)
- Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge (2014)
- Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures (2014-2015)[6]
- Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever (2014) (puppets and stand-in puppets)
- The Jungle Book (2016) (stand-in puppets)
- Rock Dog (2016) (character design and visual development)
- The Happytime Murders (2018) (puppets)
- The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019)
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) (creature effects)
- Earth to Ned (2020)
- Come Play (2020) (creature design and fabrication)
- Duff's Happy Fun Bake Time (2021)
- Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock (2022)
- Pinocchio (2022) (visual effects)
- Five Nights at Freddy's (2023) (animatronics)[7]
Other
- Snuggle (Snuggle Bear)
- LendingTree (Lenny)
- Jack in the Box (Muppet Jack)
- Hamburger Helper (Hamburger Helper Glove)
- The Joy of Music ("Joy")
- Henson Alternative
- Puppet Up! - Uncensored
- 53rd Annual Grammy Awards (2011)
- Nintendo Digital Event @ E3 2015 (2015)
- Coldplay's Music of the Spheres (The Weirdos)[8]
- "Biutyful" music video
- "
See also
References
- ^ a b c d "History – Jim Henson's Creature Shop". Retrieved September 15, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Rose, Brent (April 14, 2014). "Inside Jim Henson's Creature Shop: Where Gadgets and Dreams Collide". Retrieved September 15, 2016.
- ^ "Controlling Creatures with Linux". acm.org. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
- ^ Denham, Jess (June 20, 2018). "Move into 'Muppets HQ': Camden penthouse formerly home to Jim Henson's studio is for sale". Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
- ^ Spangler, Todd (July 15, 2015). "Jim Henson Co. Creates Creatures for Oscar's Hotel Series from YouTube Filmmaker PJ Liguori". Variety. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
- ^ Vary, Adam B. (October 5, 2022). "Five Nights at Freddy's Adaptation Set at Blumhouse, With Emma Tammi Directing". Variety. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
- ^ "Coldplay's Chris Martin to perform "Biutyful" live with puppet band The Weirdos". NME. June 8, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2022.