'Web'-footed fun - Kermit and friends return with Internet site

LOS ANGELES -- The frog is back.

Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and pals are starring in their own Web site -- the first in a series of new creative efforts launched by the Walt Disney Co. since buying the Muppets in April.

"Today is the first day of the Muppets being back," said Chris Curtin, general manager and vice president of Muppet Holding Co., the group formed by Disney to manage the characters.

The site, which debuted Wednesday, features games, biographies of the Muppet characters, screensavers and news about current projects, including the new film "The Muppets Wonderful Wizard of Oz," slated to air on ABC in May.

The movie is the first since "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie," which aired on NBC in 2002. It features singer Ashanti as Dorothy, Queen Latifah as Auntie Em and director Quentin Tarantino in a cameo role as himself.

The film had been proposed some time back to ABC executives, but was not approved until Disney bought the characters.

The characters have been grouped together under the Muppets Holding Co., which is teaming with Disney's film studio, television network, Internet operations and other divisions to create new films, videos and TV shows in the future.

The sale to Disney, announced last February, also includes a four-year consulting arrangement with the Jim Henson Co. to provide strategic advice on the use of the characters and a three-year production deal to develop movies, television shows and other projects using the characters.

The deal does not include the Sesame Street characters, which were sold earlier by EM.TV to the Sesame Workshop.

ON THE NET

• Official Muppets site: www.muppets.com