From Newsgroup: rec.arts.animation
New Roger Rabbit & Live-Action Jessica Rabbit Movie in Development
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After 37 years, Who Framed Roger Rabbit will finally get a sequel...
it just won't be at Disney.
What is the latest on the Roger Rabbit movie franchise?
In a recent interview with ImNotBad.com, a website dedicated
exclusively to Jessica Rabbit news, author Gary K. Wolf revealed
that he quietly reacquired the rights to Roger Rabbit last year.
"I now have back the rights to all my characters, all my books.
I can, basically, do my own Roger Rabbit projects," he shared.
Wolf was able to reclaim ownership through the 35-Year Copyright
Reversion Clause, which gives original creators the ability to
reclaim rights to their original work after a period of 35 years.
The author shared that the process was pretty straightforward, as
Disney did not try and stop the rights reversal from happening.
"I expected that this would be a contentious process. Who knows
what was going to happen? But, it was not. It was very civil, very
courteous, very straightforward," he said. "Disney was always
top-notch for me. They treated me very well. They always
accommodated me in whatever I wanted to do."
With Wolf's characters back in his domain, the author is planning
to reintroduce audiences to Roger Rabbit and the rest of Toontown
through several different projects. "A lot of people have asked
why didn't we do the first movie more closely to the Who Censored
Roger Rabbit book, with the word balloons and those kinds of
characters. Well, that's on the table," he said, as is an
adaptation of his latest book, 2022's Jessica Rabbit: XERIOUS
Business.
"The one that is most prominent ... is a live-action Jessica Rabbit
movie based on the book Jessica Rabbit: XERIOUS Business. That was
the first project that we took a look at and the first we started
developing. It's probably the one that's furthest along right now,"
Wolf revealed.
No studios or production companies are involved with Wolf's Roger
Rabbit Universe plans at this time, although the author noted that
he would love to work with Disney again. "I'd love for Disney to
participate in this. We could partner up on this. There's a core
group of people who were involved with the first movie, and I would
love to work with those people again. Steven Spielberg, Robert
Zemeckis, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy. I'd love to have
Charles Fleischer come back and voice the rabbit again," he stated.
Until Wolf's new Roger Rabbit movies materialize, fans can continue
to stream Who Framed Roger Rabbit on Disney+.
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https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/2060035-new-roger-rabbit-live-action-jessica-rabbit-movie-in-development>
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