After a bidding war of more than a year, Netflix finally has the film rights to Sesame Street obtained. Also Universal and Warner Bros. were after the franchise, but ultimately had to resign themselves to it. The deal represents an important expansion of one of the most famous franchises in the world and opens the door to a new cinema film based on the iconic characters from the franchise.
Warner Bros. withdraws
Netflix is working on a film around the popular characters and is doing this together with the production company Rideback, which is behind films such as Lilo & Stitch (2025) in Aladdin (2019) sits. The rights to the film were owned by Warner Bros. for a long time. The studio tried for years to get the film going, but failed and eventually withdrew from the negotiations early. Universal had big plans for the franchise and already had a deal with the producers of Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) to support the project.
Not the first movie
Ultimately, it is Netflix that gets the credit for making the film a reality. The creative vision that Rideback had was what got Sesame Workshop excited. Last year, Netflix acquired the television rights to Sesame Street (1976– ). For decades, Sesame Street has been home to world-famous characters such as Bert and Ernie, Grover, Oscar, Cookie Monster and Elmo. This is not the first theatrical film based on the franchise. Previously published The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999) in Sesame Street Presents: Follow that Bird (1985). Netflix has not yet announced any details about the new film.
7.6 Watch on NPO Start/Plus • Sesame Street is the Dutch-language adaptation of the American children’s program Sesame Street. The program mainly stars Muppets, in addition to a number of real people.
Image: Still ‘Sesame Street’ via TMDb
