The wheels of justice turn quickly when there are murderous junkie puppets involved. The Brian Henson-directed movie The Happytime Murders can continue to use the tagline “NO SESAME. ALL STREET,” according to a judge in New York City.
Last week, Sesame Workshop filed a lawsuit over the use of the tagline seen in marketing materials for the Jim Henson Company’s R-rated comedy. Yesterday, as reported by The Daily News, Judge Vernon Broderick ruled that the tagline is a “humorous, pithy way” of distinguishing the movie from the kid-friendly Sesame Street.
According to the Daily News report, Sesame Workshop’s attorney presented some possible alternative taglines, including “Naughty Puppets,” “Bad Puppets,” “Puppets After Dark” and “Puppets Get Freaky.” Those all sound pretty good to me, although “Bad Puppets” isn’t particularly creative, is it?
STX Entertainment, the producers of the movie, released another statement from their lawyer, Fred, Esq.: “We fluffing love Sesame Street and we’re obviously very pleased that the ruling reinforced what STX’s intention was from the very beginning — to honor the heritage of The Jim Henson Company’s previous award-winning creations while drawing a clear distinction between any Muppets or Sesame Street characters and the new world Brian Henson and team created.”
What do you think? Did the judge make the right decision?
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by Ryan Roe – Ryan@ToughPigs.com
