![]() ![]() Seven months later, cryptic but promising comments from producer Don Hahn indicated that a new Roger Rabbit adventure, at long last, might be moving ahead. In November 2009, the most promising development in years occurred for this proposed sequel when Robert Zemeckisrevealed that a new screenplay was underway for the feature while the plan was to now have the cartoon characters realized in hand-drawn animation, but have them inhabit a motion-capture animated world rather than a live-action one. Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Bob Hoskins (1988)Īnd yet…nothing stays dead in Hollywood, so of course, the occasional encouraging word about a Roger Rabbit follow-up would creep into the headlines. With these comments, it was apparent that the time for this follow-up had come and gone. He also claimed that none of the proposed ideas for a prequel were ever strong enough to justify pulling the trigger on making another movie set in this universe. in March 2003, Don Hahn told USA Today that a follow-up to the film was officially off the table, with Hahn partially attributing this to how much the pop culture scene, and especially the role of animation in the broader world of entertainment, had shifted so drastically since Who Framed Roger Rabbit? came out in 1988. Once it became clear just how costly it would be to realize this production, not to mention growing concern over how long it had been since the first film, Who Discovered Roger Rabbit? was killed.Īfter that, the film floated around as a nebulous possibility for years, but there was never any serious momentum on it. But it was also impactful because it drove up the budget of the film even further. This was a big shift for Who Discovered Roger Rabbit? not least because it would necessitate finding out if these characters could work as well in three dimensions. However, further problems came about when it was decided by Disney brass that this new Roger Rabbit prequel would differentiate itself from its predecessor by having the cartoon characters realized through computer animation rather than hand-drawn means. In exchange, Disney would benefit by having Spielberg use his clout to guarantee the appearances of classic cartoon stars from rival studios in a Walt Disney Pictures release. But he was especially influential on the original Roger Rabbit, with this filmmaker getting extensive ownership and creative control on the project. In a post- Jaws world, Spielberg has had enormous clout on any movie he attaches himself to, even if it’s only in an executive producer capacity. However, this sequel found itself tripped up due to complaints from producer Steven Spielberg. RELATED: How 'Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers' Compares to 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' This prequel had a lot of potential for inventive sight gags, entertaining nods to the past, and, in being a war more rather than a neo-noir, offering something distinctly different from its predecessor. In a stroke of genius, this production would take inspiration from the barrage of World War II propaganda shorts created by animation houses (including Disney) in the 1940s by featuring Roger Rabbit and other cartoons fighting Nazis during World War II. This version of the project went nowhere, though it did serve as a sizable indicator that there was serious interest in getting this project done.įrom here, a more concrete vision of a Roger Rabbit sequel emerged entitled Roger Rabbit: The Toon Platoon. Abrams was asked by Steven Spielberg to provide an outline for a potential Roger Rabbit sequel. In one of his first jobs in Tinseltown, J.J. With the project becoming a box office sensation and one of the biggest Disney titles ever up to that point, it made sense for movement to begin on a sequel. ![]() The first rumblings of a Roger Rabbit sequel emerged almost immediately after the first film hit theaters in 1988. The notion of following Roger Rabbit and company on more adventures eventually turned into one of the more relentlessly tormented unmade follow-ups in the history of Hollywood. For years, there were talks of some kind of extension of that original feature. Roger Rabbit wasn’t always meant to vanish after his hit movie, though. Instead, it sits largely gathering dust on a shelf at Walt Disney Pictures. Given that every scrap of 1980s media has been mined for nostalgia, not to mention how Disney is obsessed with remaking every vaguely recognizable title in its library, one would imagine that Who Framed Roger Rabbit would be experiencing a pop culture resurgence right now. It was a perfect storm of influences, mining nostalgia for classic cartoons with groundbreaking visual effects techniques to create truly unprecedented entertainment. Released in 1988, Who Framed Roger Rabbit became a massive enough box office hit to become one of the biggest movies of the 1980s. ![]()
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