Unfinished Jim Henson Pictures Muppet movies (late 1990s-early 2000s)

Before The Muppets were purchased by Disney in 2004, Jim Henson Pictures had planned of producing two films based on them but were never green light.

The Muppets' Haunted House
As early as 1996, Brian Henson mentioned in a panel discussion that ideas for a Muppet horror/monster movie were being talked about at the company. By 1998, a script was written by Dan Milano, now titled "The Muppets' Haunted Hotel."

Some press reports cited the film was slated for a Fall 2000 release, but a 2001 press junket meant to highlight company projects, still mentioned the film to be in development as "Muppet Haunted Movie." Documents associated with the 2004 sale of the Muppets to Disney included a list of Muppet-related scripts and treatments that the Jim Henson Company had developed; among the assets listed as being in "current and active development" was a script titled "Muppet Haunted House" written by Kirk Thatcher and Jim Lewis. The 2004 sale documents also included the transfer of the domain MuppetHauntedHotel.com to Disney, which was initially purchased by Henson in October 1998.

Muppet Time Travel
Announced in 2001 on a press release flyer, the script for this film was written by John Derevlany. The concept involved Animal stumbling into one of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's time-traveling appliances, and going back to the Stone Age, where he inadvertently becomes evolution's missing link.

Finding themselves living in a world of humans descended from Animal, including the wild Postman Joe, Kermit and friends must go back in time to fix things.

A charatcer named Postman Joe was a character who would have appeared in the optioned but cancelled film  Muppet Time Travel . He was described in the script as "an extremely normal, All-American-looking, human mailman." The character would have likely been a vehicle for a celebrity appearance.

Besides delivering a number of legal documents to Kermit early in the story, Postman Joe is used to illustrate the paradigm shift that takes place once Animal alters history. After Animal's departure, Postman Joe is the first human to be seen with Animal's features, voice and mannerisms (including his trademark attraction to females and drumming abilities).

Postman Joe would also have played drums on a song mentioned in the script with the proposed title "The World's Gone Animal", performed by the Electric Mayhem.