The Muppet Movie is the first of a series of live-action musical feature films starring the Muppets. The film is a movie-in-a-movie, as we see Kermit the Frog and the rest of the Muppets gathering for the first screening of "The Muppet Movie." Kermit notes to his nephew Robin as the lights dim that the movie is a somewhat fictionalized account of the true story of how the Muppets first got together.

The movie was a critical and commercial success. In 2009, the film was selected by the U.S. National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress