Jim Henson's Creature Shop

Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based out of Hollywood, California, United States, and, previously, Camden Town in London, United Kingdom, where they still maintain some facilities.

History
Jim Henson's Creature Shop was originally created as a partnership with British illustrator Brian Froud to facilitate the production of The Dark Crystal. Located in Hampstead, London, it received its name in order to differentiate it from Henson's original puppet workshop in New York City. It was then used for future films such as Labyrinth and The Storyteller.

It was relocated to Camden Town following Henson's death in 1990 and his son, Brian Henson, took over. A third location in Burbank, California opened to serve Hollywood, and one of its first projects was the Dinosaurs television series.

Since The Jim Henson Company sold off the rights to The Muppets brand to Disney in 2004; the Muppet Workshop in New York is now credited as Jim Henson's Creature Shop. In the modern day, the New York shop specializes in hand puppets, including building The Muppets and most of the puppets in Sesame Street. The Los Angeles branch creates more realistic animatronic creatures and creature suits.

In addition to practical effects, the shop also specializes in "digital puppetry", a form of computer animation that controls a digital avatar using manual puppet controls to animate them more quickly and easily than if it was entirely digital. This is known as the "Henson Digital Puppetry Studio" and is used extensively in television, including the entirety of the series Sid the Science Kid.

Besides films, the Creature Shop has created costumes for live events. They created a realistic Smilodon "full-suit puppet" for a show at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, which cost more than $100,000.

Selected filmography

 * The Dark Crystal (Creature Effects)
 * Dreamchild (Creature Effects)
 * Labyrinth (Creature Effects)
 * L'Ours (Creature Effects)
 * The Storyteller (Creature Effects)
 * Lighthouse Island (Visual Effects)
 * Monster Maker
 * The Ghost of Faffner Hall (Puppets)
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Creature Effects)
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (Creature Effects)
 * The Neverending Story III (Creature Effects)
 * All That (Leroy & Fuzz) (Puppets)
 * Dinosaurs (Creature Effects)
 * Babe (Creature Effects)
 * Samson and Delilah (Lion attacking Samson)
 * 101 Dalmatians (Creature Effects)
 * Rat (Creature Effects)
 * George of the Jungle (Creature Effects)
 * The Talented Mr. Ripley (visual effects)
 * The English Patient (prosthetic effects)
 * Jack Frost (Jack Frost snowman effects)
 * Dr. Dolittle (Creature Effects)
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Creature Effects)
 * Jack in the Box (Muppet Jack)
 * Hamburger Helper (Hamburger Helper Glove)
 * Stuart Little 2 (Creature Effects)
 * Cats & Dogs (Creature Effects)
 * Gosford Park (digital effects)
 * The Country Bears (Creature Effects)
 * Scooby-Doo (Creature Effects)
 * Mee Shee: The Water Giant (Visual Effects and Digital Puppetry)
 * 5 Children &amp; It (Character Animation, Visual Effects, Digital Puppetry and Animatronics)
 * Looney Tunes: Back in Action (stand-in puppets)
 * The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Puppet Fabrication)
 * Batman Begins (visual effects of The Scarecrow)
 * Lost in Space (Creature Effects)
 * Animal Farm (Creature Effects)
 * Snuggle (Snuggle Bear)
 * LendingTree (Lenny)
 * The Hangover (Tiger in car)
 * Where the Wild Things Are (Creature Effects)
 * Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge
 * The Muppets (puppet costumes only)
 * Muppets Most Wanted (puppets, along with Puppet Heap)
 * Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures
 * The Jungle Book (stand-in puppets)
 * Rock Dog (visual development and character design)
 * Five Nights at Freddy's (Animatronics)