Segel and Nicholas Stoller pitched the concept in 2008 for a Muppets film to Disney Executive Vice President of Production Kristin Burr.

FORBES: Doing a Deal in Hollywood Takes More Than Movie Magic

The film, which Judd Apatow produced, and which Segel co-wrote with the director, Nicholas Stoller, is a kind of commonplace contemporary American epic leisurely, episodic but pungent, densely populated, consistently funny, and, in the Apatovian spirit, foulmouthed and tenderhearted.

NEWYORKER: Five-Year Engagement, The