Walt Disney brought in Steven Spielberg as a producer to turn Gary K. Wolf’s 1981 novel into Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988. Mark Sturdivant and Terry Gilliam were the initial choices for producer and director, however, they dropped out due to too much work. Spielberg’s addition brought his protege Robert Zemeckis into the film, who gained popularity in the Hollywood circles with his Back to the Future project.
Spielberg and Zemeckis’s successful collaboration in the film led the studio to plan another film. What they came up with was a prequel project that was set before the original, with the Nazis as the satirical villain. However, the Jaws director was not on board with the idea and Disney eventually shelved the film.
Steven Spielberg Refused To Do This Prequel Film Due to Schindler’s List
Disney released Who Framed Roger Rabbit via its Touchstone Pictures banner and received critical acclaim for the revolutionary combination of live-action and animation. The film followed Eddie Valiant, played by Bob Hoskins, who joins forces with the toon Roger Rabbit to exonerate him from a murder case.
The film went on to become profitable for both producer Steven Spielberg and Disney as it grossed $351 million at the box office (via The Numbers). The film was 1988’s second highest grosser coming just behind Rain Man. The film was also the recipient of three Oscars, including Best Film Editing, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects.
Disney cashed in on the huge success of Robert Zemeckis‘s film with the release of comic books and theatrical shorts. They also planned on developing a prequel film, written by Nat Mauldin. The planned film was initially titled Roger Rabbit: The Toon Patrol but was later changed to Who Discovered Roger Rabbit. So why didn’t the project take off?
One of the prequel film’s planned storylines involved how Roger Rabbit rescued his wife from the Nazis. Spielberg couldn’t endorse a film that used Nazis as satirical villains to satisfy the audience’s escapist mentality, especially after directing Schindler’s List. Later, Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver were brought in to rewrite Mauldin’s script.
Even original writers Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman worked on a script, but none of them took off. In a 2013 interview, Zemeckis shared that he was not planning any sequel for his 1988 film. However, he added that Disney is sitting on a great script for the sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Zemeckis shared with IndieWire:
I’m not planning any sequel. All I know is there’s a draft for a sequel sitting at Disney. It’s good, but I don’t know what’s going on, it’s just a great script sitting.
J.J. Abrams told The Nerdist Podcast that even before Mauldin was attached to the sequel project, Spielberg had discussed a sequel with him as the writer. Abrams revealed that his outline was eventually abandoned by the studio.
Steven Spielberg Made A Rare Deal Possible Between Disney and Warner Bros. For The Film
Who Framed Roger Rabbit featured several cartoon characters, which was a significant change from the novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?. The book had comic strip characters coming to life, while the movie used cartoon characters.
Steven Spielberg was able to bring several iconic Disney and WB cartoons like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and many others into the film.
According to THR, he was able to convince both studios to lend their characters for the film. THR also reported that WB had several conditions for the deal to happen. For instance, WB’s property Bugs Bunny was supposed to have equal screen time with Disney’s property Mickey Mouse.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is now available for streaming on Disney+.
