The Muppet Christmas Carol is a 1992 American Christmas musical comedy drama film directed by Brian Henson (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Jerry Juhl. Adapted from the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, it stars Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, alongside Muppet performers Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Jerry Nelson, and Frank Oz. Although artistic license is taken to suit the aesthetic of the Muppets, The Muppet Christmas Carol otherwise follows Dickens's original story closely. It is the fourth theatrical film in The Muppets franchise, and the first to be produced following the deaths of Muppets creator Jim Henson and performer Richard Hunt; the film is dedicated to both. The film was released in the United States on December 11, 1992, by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. It was a modest box office success and received mostly positive reviews. It is the first Muppets film to be produced by Walt Disney Pictures, whose parent company would later acquire the rights to the Muppets characters and assets in 2004. Plot On Christmas Eve, in 19th-century London, Charles Dickens (played by The Great Gonzo) and his friend Rizzo address the audience as narrators to tell the story of A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine), a cold-hearted, stingy, and lonely moneylender, does not share the merriment of Christmas ("Scrooge"). He rejects his nephew Fred's invitation to Christmas dinner, dismisses two gentlemen (played by Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker) collecting money for charity, and tosses a wreath at a carol-singing Bean Bunny ("Good King Wenceslas"). Scrooge's loyal employee Bob Cratchit (played by Kermit the Frog) and the other bookkeepers request to take Christmas Day off, as there will be no business for Scrooge on the day, to which he reluctantly agrees. Scrooge leaves for home while the bookkeepers celebrate Christmas ("One More Sleep Till Christmas"). In his house, Scrooge encounters the shackled ghosts of his late business partners, Jacob and Robert Marley (played by Statler and Waldorf), who warn him to repent his wicked ways or be condemned to suffer in the afterlife as they do. They inform him that three spirits will visit him, with the first to visit tonight when the bell tolls one ("Marley and Marley"). At one o'clock, Scrooge is visited by the childlike Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him back in time to his childhood and early adult life, with Dickens and Rizzo