Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird
Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (or simply Follow That Bird) is a 1985 American musical road comedy film directed by Ken Kwapis and written by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss. Based on the children's television series Sesame Street created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, it was the first theatrical feature-length Sesame Street film. It stars Muppet performers Caroll Spinney, Jim Henson and Frank Oz alongside Sandra Bernhard, John Candy, Chevy Chase, Joe Flaherty, Waylon Jennings, and Dave Thomas with Sesame Street regulars Linda Bove, Emilio Delgado, Loretta Long, Sonia Manzano, Bob McGrath, Roscoe Orman, Alaina Reed, and Kermit Love in supporting roles and the voices of Laraine Newman, Brian Hohlfeld, Cathy Silvers, Eddie Deezen, and Sally Kellerman. It tells the story of Big Bird being assigned to the Dodo Family by a social worker working for the Feathered Friends as he soon runs away from them to get back to Sesame Street as he is searched by the social worker, his friends, and two con artists.
Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird | |
---|---|
Theatrical release poster by Steven Chorney | |
Directed by | Ken Kwapis |
Written by | Judy Freudberg Tony Geiss |
Based on | Sesame Street by Joan Ganz Cooney Lloyd Morrisett Muppet characters by Jim Henson |
Produced by | Tony Garnett |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Curtis Clark |
Edited by | Evan Landis |
Music by | Van Dyke Parks Lennie Niehaus |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $13.9 million |
Produced by Children's Television Workshop and Muppets, Inc. (one of the few Sesame Street productions they directly produced), and filmed at the Cinespace Film Studios and on location in the Greater Toronto Area, the film was released in the United States on August 2, 1985 by Warner Bros. and received mostly positive reviews from critics. However, it was a box office disappointment, grossing $13.9 million ($36 million when adjusted for inflation) and resulting in a slight loss for the Children's Television Workshop.
This is the only Sesame Street feature film to star both Henson (as Kermit the Frog and Ernie) and Richard Hunt and the last Muppet film to involve them in before their deaths in 1990 and 1992.