15 Years Ago, The Muppets Began Delivering the Best Parody Trailers Ever

A The Muppets scene involving Rowlf, the best Muppet. I love his ears when they flop around!!

We all know how typical American movie trailers operate. A terrific early 2010s YouTube video played on this familiarity through memorably breaking down the specifics of blockbuster movie trailers. Such staples have remained shockingly consistent in the years since this video's debut. Just watch the Masters of the Universe or Supergirl trailers and tell me this YouTube video isn't still relevant.

This rigid formulaic approach to movie trailers makes it such a welcome treat when movie marketers switch things up by delivering trailers that totally upend expectations. Just in the last two years, the "Boots" 28 Years Later teaser, that initial Weapons teaser, or that memorably meta Love That Remains trailer have proven you can make a modern movie trailer look like anything. Unfortunately, with corporate consolidation, increased creative timidity, and so many other problems plaguing the American film industry, these trailers are few and far between. Great trailers are an artfrom unto themselves. You wouldn't know that, though, if you just watched the trailers inspiring that early 2010s YouTube parody video.

In 2011, though, a Disney legacy sequel, of all things, delivered one of the most creative, entertaining, and distinctive series of trailers for any modern American movie. On this day, 15 years ago, the very first of this film's various parody trailers began screening exclusivley in theaters with Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, and all their Muppety friends hadn't been seen in movie theaters for over a decade. The various parody trailers heralding the arrival of The Muppets, though, signaled their return in style. Hollywood hasn't really tried mimicking these parody trailers in the last 15 years, which just makes these marketing materials for The Muppets extra special.

That Very First Muppets Teaser

It's May 20, 2011. You're seated for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The trailers are winding down with the titles Disney is choosing to promote on this blockbuster. The first of these trailers is... a Jason Segel/Amy Adams romantic-comedy? Everything about this teaser, from the character's dialogue to the trailer narrator to even the sound effects, says this is a production cut from the same mold as fellow 2011 rom-com's Friends With Benefits, and Something Borrowed. The inspired use of "You Only Get What You Give" really solidifies that audiences must be witnessing a glimpse at the latest Robert Luketic directorial effort.

Then the narrator begins announcing the cast. "Jason Segel." "Amy Adams." "Kermit...the Frog." After also announcing Miss Piggy's presence, Segel grinds the teaser to a halt to ask, "are there Muppets in this movie?" This parody trailer (titled Green With Envy online) then culminates in a montage emphasizing Muppety montage and unveiling the film's title. It's an incredibly fun trailer showing remarkable attention to detail in replicating rom-com trailers. Oh, how fun it must've been to be in a crowded auditorium of people, most totally unaware a new Muppet feature was on the horizon, gradually realizing what this teaser actually was.

Even better, the Green With Envy teaser's rom-com parody carried on the Muppet tradition of zany pop culture pastiches. Never forget Muppet Show staples like Pigs in Space or Veterinarian's Hospital that spoofed Star Trek and daytime soap operas, respectively. One of my favorite supporting Muppet Show players, Uncle Deadly, was introduced as The Phantom of the Muppet Show, an obvious Phantom of the Opera nod. The Rowlf-hosted special Dog City, meanwhile, was heavily indebted to noir films. The Muppets have always lampooned pre-existing art, but not at all in a stupid "look! thing you recognize!" fashion like Aaron Seltzer and Jason Freidberg.

Instead, they build upon pre-existing pop culture staples and archetypes to create gags that work for everyone, regardless of their pop culture knowledge. The Green With Envy teaser, works as a funny short where lovey-dovey material dovetails into Muppet madness even if you're too young to have ever seen a rom-com trailer. With just this first parody trailer, The Muppets established creativity and wit that lived up to the legacy of these characters. Better yet, though, the parody trailers weren't over. Throughout summer 2011, Disney kept dropping further parody trailers skewering hot 2011 titles. Most memorably, the iconic Girl With the Dragon Tattoo teaser spawned a hysterical Muppets parody. This trailer, known as Pig With the Froggy Tattoo, was inspired in its take on the original teaser's music. To boot, Froggy Tattoo delivered with fun gags (like pointing out the trailer's editor hiding as an extra in a large dance scene) that ensured you could laugh with this trailer even if you didn't know Lisbeth Salander from Katniss Everdeen.

Why Didn't Hollywood Mimic This Marketing Approach?

The Muppets marketing team wasn't just doing these parody trailers out of a desire to flip the script on standard American movie marketing techniques. This and other Muppets marketing elements, like the Muppets Fan-A-Thon videos, were intended to exploit the then-booming Facebook and YouTube viral video space. In an age where "Chocolate Rain" was becoming more popular than an average movie trailer, Disney's marketing team opted to go in a new direction. The hope was that people would share these videos all across the biggest social media platforms and get some extra hype going for Disney's big Thanksgiving 2011 release. Plus, if Kermit and pals were seen as "old", what better way to make them relevant than with Facebook-ready viral videos?

Whatever the impetus behind these parody trailers, they were delightful and an incredibly unique creation in the 2011 cinematic landscape. Unfortunately, they've remained a frustrating anomaly in the years since. The Muppets didn't inspire a slew of further motion pictures to take risks with creative trailers nad marketing materials. Even its own sequel, Muppets Most Wanted, only did parodies with TV spots lampooning tweets and "For Your Consideration" ads. Otherwise, the Most Wanted trailers were standard in structure and content. Other motion pictures, meanwhile, eschewed further norm-shattering promotional tactics.

Part of that was because The Muppets directly preceded the "nerd blockbuster" wave. When trailers dropped for new Marvel, DC, or Star Wars projects, studio executives assumed that fans wanted to see actual footage from the proper movie filtered through a reverent tone. The Comic-Con crowd would tar and feather Kevin Feige if he delivered a Captain America: Civil War trailer that was, say, just a parody of the Big Short trailer. Thus, behind-the-scenes featurettes where people on-set ran in slow-motion and talked about how "this one's for the fans" were in. Wackier and more unorthodox trailers were out. 

The decline of the big screen comedy (the perfect genre for these kinds of marketing tactics) also ensured that those Muppets parody trailers from 2011 didn't spawn a bunch of imitators. The Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me teaser that initially seemed to tee up the return of Darth Vader before revealing Dr. Evil, for instance, could only have worked for a silly comedy. Ditto the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels teaser or those bizarre live-action Bee Movie teasers. Those Muppets trailers were following in the footsteps of countless creative comedy movie trailers that used the innate silliness of this genre to try something different in the "coming attractions" section. When studios began backing away from big-screen comedies, such trailers became basically non-existent.

Even if they didn't spawn further marketing risk-taking in the 2010s, The Muppets still delivered some gloriously fun teaser trailers. Speaking as a Muppet fan, the effort and creativity going into these materials remains enduringly moving because they show people actually caring about Kermit and the gang. For much of the 2000s, the Muppets were stuck in a bleak era. Characters like Rowlf and Gonzo were now only good for hawking Pizza Hut or headlining abysmal TV movies like The Muppets' Wizard of Oz. Characters once epitomizing inventive and chaotic comedy were now Madison Avenue shills. At least in the 50s, when Jim Henson's Wilkins and Wontkins were coffee spokespeople (see below), there was plenty of hysterical puppet murder to make the commercials go down smoothly. Now, the Muppets were just hollow vessels for whatever brand paid to use them.

These Muppets teaser trailers, though, indicated that artists hadn't given up on giving these characters genuinely witty material to inhabit. They were good for more than just tired Tin-Man nipple jokes or Denny's commercials. They could make people laugh once more and (provided you were an unsuspecting moviegoer in an opening night On Stranger Tides screening) even surprise them. After so many years of creative stasis, hope had risen once more for the Muppets. What a terrific precursor to the excellent 2011 movie that reminded us all "Life's a Happy Song" while reaffirming the entertainment and value of these characters. Happy 15th anniversary to the start of these parody trailers, which heralded a new era of Muppety joys.