Roger Rabbit Sequel?

[Ben]

Wow, that is close!

And it won't be "the Muppets" that pop up in this, unless Disney has decided to be kind and put their Muppet movie on hold so that Brian can use them. No, that's not going to happen, is it? Though we might get a Sesame Street cameo from some of those characters. I'm interested, but I fear it will only be so-so good or mega-bad...depending on how it turns out. The concept hasn't got me bouncing off the walls...

[Daniel]

A "Making of" book has recently been released. Sounds pretty cool and thorough!

[Ben]

What’s with the insane prices on the hardcover edition!?!

[Daniel]

Hence why I linked to the paperback edition..!

Beats me the inflation for the hardcover. Limited run, perhaps? Wasn't able to find anything concrete. Even the specifics contradict the price. The hardcover has 352 pages, while the softcover has 386. Measurements don't seem to be much different.

Much like the movie, a real whodunit.

[droosan]

It's published by The University Press of Mississippi; hardly a mass-market publisher.

So, the hardcover edition likely is a smaller run (as Daniel posits) .. and is probably mainly intended for sale to public/school libraries.

If it is like some other "university press" hardcover animation history books that I've bought over the years, it may even just be a solid-color cloth hardcover, with plain lettering; no dustjacket or illustration.

[Ben]

I have several UPM hardcovers, and all are usually pretty regular books with jackets, though they usually have matt paper sleeves rather than glossy heavy stock paper. Even so, they’re reasonably priced and a couple I have surely would be of less interest than a Roger book (although if Roger is still that interesting to most people now!). Point is, their books aren’t usually anything that much more expensive or rare...I’m just surprised that such a recently published book is already fetching such insane prices!

[droosan]

I'm not familiar with the publisher; I was just speculating as to possible reasons for the higher price.

It would seem it is a mystery.

The book's title brings to mind a rather different cartoon, though ..
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[droosan]

There's an in-depth look at the 'lost scene' featuring Marvin Acme's funeral by Jim Korkis, on today's entry of the Cartoon Research blog.

[Daniel]

Coming to 4K December 7th:

“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” to Arrive on 4K Ultra HD Disc for First Time on December 7th, 2021

“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” arrives on 4K Ultra HD Disc for the first time on Dec. 7 in stunning HDR picture quality and Dolby Atmos audio. The Ultimate Collector’s Edition includes a limited-edition SteelBook®, available only at Best Buy stores.

“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” Synopsis

“This ain’t no cartoon, ya know!” It’s the hilarious cult classic combining rousing live-action and spectacular animation. 1947 Hollywood: Detective Eddie Valiant is hired to prove that mogul Marvin Acme is fooling around with femme fatale Jessica Rabbit, wife of cartoon superstar, Roger Rabbit. But when Acme is murdered … Roger is the prime suspect.

“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” Bonus Features*

Filmmakers’ Audio Commentary – View the film with Audio Commentary by filmmakers Bob Zemeckis, Frank Marshall, Steve Starkey, Jeff Price, Peter Seaman and Ken Ralston.
The Roger Rabbit Shorts
Tummy Trouble – The accident-prone Roger Rabbit faces new perils when he is left to baby-sit for the mischievous Baby Herman.
Roller Coaster Rabbit – Mother takes Baby Herman to the State Fair, and leaves him with Roger Rabbit so she can visit the psychic (fortune-teller).
Trail Mix-Up – Roger Rabbit returns in an all-new outdoor adventure that finds the irrepressible Toon star on a hilarious, disaster-filled camping trip.
Deleted Scene
The Pig Head Sequence – Judge Doom and the weasels teach Eddie Valiant a lesson in a way that only Toontown can. With intro by director Robert Zemeckis.
Who Made Roger Rabbit – A behind-the-scenes making of, hosted by Charles Fleischer, the voice of Roger Rabbit.
Before and After – Split screen comparison reveals the unbelievable talent of the live-action actors, animators and the special effects.
Toon Stand-Ins – Watch as the cast rehearse with life size stand-ins for the toons.
Behind the Ears: The True Story of Roger Rabbit – An in-depth, behind-the-scenes documentary.
On Set! Benny the Cab – The making of a scene from the movie.
*bonus features vary by product and retailer

“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” Product Specifications

Street Date: Dec. 7, 2021
Feature Run Time: 104 minutes
Rating: U.S. Rated PG
Bonus material not rated
Aspect Ratio: Physical: 1.85:1
U.S. Audio: 4K Ultra HD: English 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos, English DVS 2.0 Dolby Digital, Spanish 1.0 Mono, French 5.1 DTS Digital Surround
U.S. Subtitles: 4K Ultra HD: English SDH, Spanish, French

[Ben]

I’m loving the art — total lack of Hoskins aside — and this is a top three movie for me, so while I would never put it on a list of films I "needed" in 4K, due to the compositing and terrible generational loss of the optical effects printing, I'm in for this, though I’m sure the PQ isn’t going to be stellar.

Same old same-old ho-hum extras though. If ever there was an opportunity to include Roger Rabbit And The Secrets Of Toontown and a couple of the other vintage promo programs from the time, this was it.

And that steelbook honestly is one of the very worst designs I have ever seen! Lucky I’m not really a fan of them anyway, but that one is seriously poor, and that inside image placement again shows that they never get those inserted pictures right!

But pretty nice to see a Touchstone title on a 4K disc!

[Dacey]

Let’s see…number one in your top three is Superman: The Movie…so what’s the other one?

[Ben]

It’s a cheat: the BTTF trilogy.

[ShyViolet]

This is just a random question: Has anyone here actually read “Who Censored Roger Rabbit”? I know the basic plot because of the “What’s the Difference?” YouTube vid. But is reading the book actually fun/enjoyable? How different is the tone from the film?

(Also, I always thought the original pre-Eisner regime pencil tests for RR looked interesting, but I’m still really glad they went with Williams’ designs instead! )

[Randall]

I have only read one of the sequels, and did not think it was too good.

Looks like there's little reason to upgrade to the 4K. Pity. But, money saved!

The Steelbook does nothing for me, either. I'd have liked to see the original film strip poster used. The standard cover is nice, but not having Hoskins feels wrong.

[droosan]

I read the original Who Censored Roger Rabbit? novel in the early-1980s .. because one of my favorite comic books at the time -- Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew -- had been forced to change the name of its title character's original secret identity.

Captain Carrot had been introduced in his first appearance (1981) as "Roger Rabbit" .. a few issues later, he was called "Roger Rodney Rabbit" .. and soon after that, his secret identity became simply "Rodney Rabbit". A reader who'd asked about this in the comic book's letter column was answered that the change was required due to a lawsuit filed by Walt Disney Productions, who'd cited that they owned the name "Roger Rabbit", having purchased the rights to that (pre-existing) novel .. again, this was around 1982/83.

So -- my curiosity piqued -- I managed to check out a copy of the book from my local public library.

It's an extremely weird book. After reading it, I had a lot of trouble envisioning it as a Disney animated film .. and wondered why they'd even bothered to buy it. I was very pleasantly surprised to see -- and greatly enjoy -- Who Framed Roger Rabbit, about five years later.

The 'toons' in the original novel are newspaper comic strip and comic book characters. Characters like Charlie Brown and Dick Tracy make up most of the cameos. When toons speak, their dialogue physically appears in a floating balloon next to their heads .. which then sinks to the ground, and gradually fades away. 'Comics' are made by physically photographing the toons, one panel at a time. Much is made of the fact that the toon characters are two-dimensional, and literally paper-thin. There's no equivalent of Judge Doom .. the main villain is a magic genie. I'll confess that I've forgotten much of the specifics of his plot against Roger Rabbit .. but it was entirely different from the film version.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is wayyy up there among my own favorites; I consider it at least as iconic and important as movies like the 1939 The Wizard of Oz. It depicts a unique vision of a world that can only exist on film .. and which, indeed, could only have been made in that brief window of time between Disney's first & second 'Golden Age'.