Robert Zemeckis says that Disney has a script for a sequel to ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ but doubts the studio will ever make it. Zemeckis directed the first picture, which was released in 1988. The film was a groundbreaking film, fusing live action and animation in a way that had never been seen before, and was a huge hit. (There’s even a hip hop dance called ‘The Roger Rabbit’!) But even at the time, ‘Roger Rabbit’ was controversial due to Jessica Rabbit’s exaggeratedly voluptuous body, Christopher Lloyd’s nightmarish villain, Judge Doom, and the scene in which Doom kills an adorable baby-like cartoon shoe.
Due to its darker-than-normal nature, it’s not surprising that Disney has essentially left this film in the vault. Most kids today have likely never even heard of it. In addition to the film’s darkness, it also featured an incredibly rare mixture of Disney characters with Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes as well as some from other studios, like Betty Boop and Woody Woodpecker, so rights issues may have something to do with ‘Roger Rabbit”s lack of circulation.
Zemeckis is currently promoting his new film, ‘Welcome to Marwen’, but during an interview with Yahoo!, he briefly discussed the planned sequel to ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’:
“I don’t think so. I don’t know where it fits in in their universe. There’s no princess in it, so I don’t know where that would be. There’s a wonderful script sitting at Disney that is really good, but I don’t think it’s on their radar.”
Zemeckis previously revealed that the sequel would leap ahead a few years, out of the film noir tone of the 1940, into the more vibrant ’50s.
In addition to Disney’s apparent lack of interest, Zemeckis described the extreme difficulty of delivering a satisfying sequel:
“Most sequels, you’re behind the eight-ball on them,” the filmmaker confessed. “When audiences clamor for a sequel, what they’re really doing is expressing their enthusiasm for the movie they just saw. And that means they’ll have a love-hate relationship with whatever comes next because they want it to be the same movie, but different. If it’s too similar, they don’t like it. And if it’s too different, they really don’t like it. There’s nothing more difficult.”
It should also be noted that the film’s human star, Bob Hoskins passed away in 2014, so there is one major element that would be missing should the sequel ever get made.
Would you like to see a sequel to ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’? Or has it been too long since the first film was released?
Additional Source: Empire Online
