Ever since 1992, true Muppet fans knew something was missing in the release of The Muppet Christmas Carol. One of the films songs, titled ‘When Love Is Gone’ was cut from its theatrical release. The story is a little more complicated than that, however.
Jeffery Katzenberg, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, believed that the song was ‘too mature for kids to understand’ and tasked director Brian Henson of cutting it. However, Henson believed the song to be too important to the message of the film, so the two came to a deal. For the theatrical cut of the film, the song would be cut however, for the home media release, the song would be put back in. Unfortunately, the original footage of the song was lost and could not be put into high definition. This meant that a true, HD (and later 4K) version of the entire film could not be completed. The song is still viewable as an extra on Disney+ however, it is not in HD.
However, this story does have a happy ending. About 2 years ago, Disney archivists finally found a copy of the original film. This meant that the footage could be remastered and available in 4K. So finally, on December 11th, Disney will be releasing the enhanced complete version of The Muppet Christmas Carol as an extra on Disney+, courtesy of Caryle Wisel on Twitter.
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Are you a fan of the Muppet rendition of the classic tale? Do you watch it every holiday season as I do? Let us know down below!
