If you haven't seen the trailer yet, you need to watch it right this second.
In case you missed it, The Happytime Murders is an upcoming comedy starring Melissa McCarthy as a human detective, paired with a disgraced private eye puppet, in a world where puppets exist alongside us.
When a number of the stars of much-loved kids puppet show begin getting killed off, they attempt to dive into the murky underbelly of the puppet crime world - complete with drugs, violence and off-putting sex - to find the culprits.
Check out the legitimately hilarious trailer right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eks8LG72uo
Clip via STX Entertainment
Yep, that looks brilliant.
The movie comes from director Brian Henson - son of the legendary Jim Henson - and he previously worked as a producer on The Muppets' Christmas Carol and Labryinth, so who better to complete deconstruct the puppet movie than him?
However, the folks behind the real-life, much-loved kids puppet show Sesame Street are not one bit happy with their name being used as a tagline for the sexy and violent movie.
According to
The Wrap:
"Sesame seeks to enjoin Defendants’ deliberate effort to appropriate its SESAME STREET mark, and its trusted brand and goodwill, to promote their R-rated movie, The Happytime Murders, by way of a violent and sexually-explicit trailer. SESAME STREET is a registered trademark of Sesame, an organisation with a long and storied history of ‘helping kids grow smarter, stronger and kinder."
"Defendants’ widely-distributed marketing campaign features a just-released trailer with explicit, profane, drug-using, misogynistic, violent, copulating, and even ejaculating puppets, along with the tagline ‘NO SESAME. ALL STREET.’ Defendants do not own, control or have any right to use the SESAME STREET mark. Instead, they are distributing a trailer that deliberately confuses consumers into mistakenly believing that Sesame is associated with, has allowed, or has even endorsed or produced the movie and tarnishes Sesame’s brand."
Hopefully we'll know how it all turns out before The Happytime Murders arrives in cinemas on Friday 17 August.
