By Patrick Hipes
September 13, 2017
Elizabeth Banks has been set to join Melissa McCarthy and Maya Rudolph in The Happytime Murders, the puppet-filled comedy from STXfilms. Brian Henson is directing the pic, which began shooting this week in Los Angeles.
The script from Todd Berger, Dee Robertson, Erich & Jon Hoeber and McCarthy is set in the L.A. underbelly where puppets and humans co-exist and centers on clashing detectives — one human (McCarthy) and the other a puppet — who are forced to work together to solve the mystery of who is brutally murdering the former cast of The Happytime Gang, a beloved classic puppet show. Banks will play a burlesque dancer.
Henson for The Jim Henson Company’s Henson Alternative are producing with McCarthy and Ben Falcone for On The Day Productions, and Jeffrey Hayes. Lisa Henson, Dee Robertson and John W. Hyde are executive producers. The movie has an August 17, 2018 release date.
Banks is repped by UTA and Untitled Entertainment.