20 Summer 2018 Films You Aren't Excited About (But Should Be)
3. The Happytime Murders
Director Brian Henson steers away from standard Muppet territory with this dark comedy thriller, which sounds rather like Who Framed Roger Rabbit with felt instead of ink; or Bright, with puppets standing in for orcs.
Set in a world where puppets and humans co-exist, The Happytime Murders sees a puppet private eye (Bill Barretta) enter an uneasy alliance with a human cop (Melissa McCarthy), in order to hunt down a serial killer who's targeting the cast of a 1980s TV show.
Henson has had the film in development for almost a decade, and it looks like it's going to be considerably less family friendly than his earlier Muppet movies; McCarthy mentioned "puppet strippers" as one of the things that persuaded her to sign on.
The cast also includes Elizabeth Banks, Melissa McCarthy and Maya Rudolph.
Release: 17th August.