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Jim Henson's Creature Shop

Company type	Division
Industry	Animation Puppets Animatronics Creature suit Special effects
Founded	1979; 46 years ago (1979), in Hampstead, England
Founder	Jim Henson Brian Froud
Headquarters	Hollywood, California, United States
Parent	The Jim Henson Company
Website	creatureshop.com

Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a British-American animation and special effects company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based in Hollywood, California, United States.

History

Jim Henson's Creature Shop was originally created as a partnership with British illustrator Brian Froud to facilitate the production of The Dark Crystal. Originally located in Hampstead, London, it received its name in order to differentiate it from Henson's original puppet workshop in New York City. It was then used for future productions such as Labyrinth and The StoryTeller.

It was relocated to Camden Town following Henson's death in 1990 and his son, Brian Henson, took over. A third location in Burbank, California opened to serve Hollywood, and one of its first projects was the Dinosaurs television series. Its main animatronic supervisor is London native David Barrington-Holt.

Since The Jim Henson Company sold off the rights to The Muppets brand to Disney in 2004; the Muppet Workshop in New York is now credited as Jim Henson's Creature Shop. In the modern day, the New York shop specializes in hand puppets, including building The Muppets and most of the puppets in Sesame Street. The Los Angeles branch creates more realistic animatronic creatures and creature suits.

The location at Camden Town, London closed in Spring 2005, and was converted into a luxury apartment known as The Henson.

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. 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.

Besides films, the Creature Shop has created costumes for live events and theme park appearances. 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. Some of their other costumes include the Polar Bear for Coca-Cola, Tony the Tiger, Shrek, Tommy and Chuckie from Rugrats, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the animatronics from Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Selected filmography

• Sesame Street (1969–present) (puppets (for later post-2000 seasons, built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, New York City))
• The Dark Crystal (1982) (creature effects)
• Dreamchild (1985) (creature effects)
• Labyrinth (1986) (creature effects)
• The StoryTeller (1987) (creature effects)
• The Bear (1988) (creature effects)
• Lighthouse Island (1989) (special 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) (special 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) (special and 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) (special effects)
• Five Children and It (2004) (character animation, special effects, digital puppetry and animatronics)
• Pride (2004) (special effects and animatronics)
• Are We There Yet? (2005) (performance animation)
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) (puppet fabrication)
• Batman Begins (2005) (special effects of The Scarecrow)
• Mee-Shee: The Water Giant (2005) (creature effects, special 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 a car)
• Where the Wild Things Are (2009) (creature effects)
• The Muppets (2011) (puppets)
• Muppets Most Wanted (2014) (puppets, along with Puppet Heap)
• Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge (2014)
• Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures (2014-2015)
• Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever (2014) (puppets and stand-in puppets)
• Turkey Hollow (2015) (creatures)
• The Jungle Book (2016) (stand-in puppets)
• Rock Dog (2016) (character design and visual development)
• The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019)
• 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-present)
• Five Nights at Freddy's (2023) (animatronics)

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)
  • The Happytime Murders (2018) (puppets)
  • Coldplay's Music of the Spheres "Biutyful" music video (The Weirdos) (2022)

See also

• Practical effect
• Creature suit

References

1. ^ "History – Jim Henson's Creature Shop". Retrieved September 15, 2016.
2. ^ Rose, Brent (April 14, 2014). "Inside Jim Henson's Creature Shop: Where Gadgets and Dreams Collide". Retrieved September 15, 2016.
3. "Controlling Creatures with Linux". acm.org. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
4. 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.
5. Linthicum, Kate (September 5, 2010). "Role of saber-toothed cat is not for the claustrophobic". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
6. "Projects - Jim Henson's Creature Shop". creatureshop.com. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
7. 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.
8. Vary, Adam B. (October 5, 2022). "Five Nights at Freddy's Adaptation Set at Blumhouse, With Emma Tammi Directing". Variety. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
9. "Coldplay's Chris Martin to perform "Biutyful" live with puppet band The Weirdos". NME. June 8, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2022.

External links

• Official website

• Mass media companies established in 1979
• The Jim Henson Company subsidiaries
• Companies based in Los Angeles County, California
• Entertainment companies of the United Kingdom
• Entertainment companies of the United States
• Special effects companies
• American animation studios
• British animation studios
• Animatronics companies
• Puppet designers
• Puppetry in the United States
• 1979 establishments in England