Charlie Chaplin Studios - The Jim Henson Company

The Jim Henson Company

In February 2000, Jim Henson's children purchased the studio for $12.5 million to serve as the new home of The Jim Henson Company. The 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2) facility was leased to The Jim Henson Co. under a ten-year lease and renamed "The Jim Henson Company Lot".

Henson's daughter, Lisa Henson, said, "The buildings are a lovable hodge-podge of quirky, unusual spaces. There are unexpected elements in some of the offices like original vaults and fish tank-like bathrooms. It's not your typical corporate space, but it's ideal for the Muppets." The landmark A&M recording studios were retained and became Henson Recording Studios. At a ceremony in June 2000, the Henson Company unveiled a 12-foot (3.7 m) color statue of Kermit the Frog, dressed as Chaplin's "Little Tramp", above the studio's main gate. Henson's son, Brian Henson, said at the time, "When we heard that the Chaplin lot was for sale, we had to have it. It's the perfect home for the Muppets and our particular brand of classy, but eccentric entertainment. When people walk onto our lot, they fall in love with Hollywood again."

In 2007, the Sci-Fi Channel series Ghost Hunters shot an episode at the studios, reporting on ghost stories told for years by employees working on the lot.

On February 1, 2010, "We Are The World" was re-recorded in the same studio as the original to benefit victims of the Haiti earthquake.

Although the Jim Henson Company does not own any rights to the Muppets, due to the sale of the characters to the Walt Disney Company in 2004, the lot was used in November of 2010, as the set for the abandoned Muppet Studios in The Muppets film.