Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a visual effects and puppetry company founded in 1979 by Jim Henson, the creator of The Muppets. It was originally created in partnership with Brian Froud for the production of The Dark Crystal, and subsequently used for productions like Labyrinth and The Storyteller. It received its name to differentiate it from Henson's original puppet workshop in New York City.
Following Henson's death in 1990, his son Brian took over, and the Creature Shop was moved to Camden Town. A third location opened in Burbank, California to serve Hollywood. After The Jim Henson Company sold off the rights to the Muppets to Disney in 2004, New York's Muppet Workshop was renamed Jim Henson's Creature Shop as well.
In addition to practical effects, the shop also specializes in digital puppetry, using manual puppet controls to animate a digital avatar.
See also Muppet Performers.
Films featuring Jim Henson's Creature Shop creations:
- The Dark Crystal (1982)
- Labyrinth (1986)
- The Bear (1988)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)
- The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
- Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992)
- The Flintstones (1994)
- The Indian in the Cupboard (1994)
- The Neverending Story III Escape From Fantasia (1994)
- Babe (1995)
- Cutthroat Island (1995)
- Muppet Treasure Island (1996)
- The Phantom (1996)
- The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996)
- Dragonheart (1996)*
- The English Patient (1996)
- Loch Ness (1996)
- 101 Dalmatians (1996)
- Buddy (1997)
- George of the Jungle (1997)
- Dr. Dolittle (1998)
- Jack Frost (1998)
- Lost in Space (1998)
- Animal Farm (1999)
- The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
- My Favorite Martian (1999)
- The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000)
- Mission to Mars (2000)
- Rat (2000)
- Cats & Dogs (2001)
- Gosford Park (2001)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
- The Country Bears (2002)
- Snow Dogs (2002)
- Scooby-Doo (2002)
- Stuart Little 2 (2002)
- The Master of Disguise (2002)
- Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life (2003)
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) (uncredited, stand-in puppets)
- Five Children and It (2004)
- Are We There Yet? (2005)
- Batman Begins (2005)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
- The Hangover (2009)
- Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
- The Muppets (2011)
- Muppets Most Wanted (2014)
- The Jungle Book (2016) (stand-in puppets)
- The Happytime Murders (2018)
- Come Play (2020)
- Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)
- Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps (2024)
Television series featuring Jim Henson's Creature Shop creations:
- 30 Rock
- B.R.A.T.S. of the Lost Nebula
- Dinosaurs
- Dittydoodle Works
- Dream Corp LLC
- Earth to Ned
- Farscape
- The Jim Henson Hour
- Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge
- Lost Ollie
- The New Statesman
- Pushing Daisies
- Slumberkins
- The Storyteller
- The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
Creature Shop projects made using digital puppetry:
- The Doozers
- Frances
- Good Morning Today
- Sid the Science Kid
- Splash and Bubbles
- Word Party
Tropes Associated With Jim Henson's Creature Shop Include:
- All-CGI Cartoon: While the studio had experimented with digital effects in the past, it wasn't until Sid the Science Kid that the Creature Shop would pursue computer animation alongside puppet fabrication.
- Friendly Enemies: They have steady competition with Stan Winston Studios in the practical effects market. Outside of this however, both have expressed admiration for each other's work and the Henson Company even follows them on Instagram.
- Practical Effects: They're one of the biggest pioneers of the medium, and even with their formation of a CG unit they don't plan to abandon this practice anytime soon.
- Production Posse: Outside of the Henson Company, they're also the go-to puppet fabricators for Sesame Workshop. They've also worked with Industrial Light & Magic in several projects.
- Screwed by the Network: Several of the Creature Shop's pet projects have been either stuck in development hell or flat out cancelled due to the popularity of CGI and the expensive, time consuming process with producing realistic puppetry.
- They Also Did: outside of film and television, the Creature Shop has also provided additional work for other projects.
- The Shop is credited with providing character designs for the 2016 animated movie Rock Dog and 1998 the video game Rascal.
- They're also responsible for fabricating Deadmau5's iconic mouse helmet along with its variations.
- They were commissioned by Lady Gaga to create the life-sized horse puppet she rode on for her "Monster Ball" and "Born This Way" Tours.
- They made puppets based off of the 1933 King Kong for a couple of commercials, including the one featured in the Energizer Bunny Supervolt arc.
- They would provide an intentionally janky animatronic version of Deadpool to play alongside members of The Rock-afire Explosion in anticipation for the release of Deadpool 2.
