Roger Rabbit Sequel?

[estefan]

Also is there any news on whether they'll get WB and such to contribute characters again? It wouldn't be quite the same if it was ALL just Disney characters.

I think that is why they're bringing Spielberg back to produce. Wasn't it his influence that allowed those Warner Brothers and Fleischer characters to appear in the film?

[droosan]

.. well, ~40 years of disuse and neglect by M-G-M, Warner & Paramount kinda helped. Which is not the case today (a situation for which, ironically, WFRR is partially responsible).

[Ben]

It's funny how you say "they are bringing Spielberg back", like he doesn't have an option! Actually, it's the other way around: Disney can't do anything with the property unless Spielberg agrees, so he'd be back anyway, whether they it or not.

Obviously, with his help, they may land characters from other studios, but even there, such as Barbie now a part of the Toy Story crew after the success of the first film, a studio like Warners would see the value in licensing their characters to a project like this knowing the potential rewards, Spielberg or no Spielberg (and now with WB owning many, many more characters than they did in 1986, there's no end of who could be picked).

As Mac says, maybe a continuation story is the way to go if they want to include HoskIns again. Maybe with WB's added Hanna-Barbera characters they could do something set in the late '50s/early '60s when the animated short was dying out and television was taking over...there might be some good material to be mined there, even if it doesn't have the same golden age feel of the first film. In some ways, like the first propelled the love of classic animation again, this could really bring back the short cartoon format in a bigger way than Pixar's occasional offerings.

As for Richard Williams, after the experience of the first film and subsequent personal issues arising from its success, I don't think he'll be back on the crew. Roger Rabbit, though it was mostly animated at his studio in London, taught a whole new generation of Disney artists how to animated dimensionally, and they have proven they can animate to camera moves in Beauty And The Beast, Hunchback, Tarzan, etc.

Not only that, but Eric Goldberg did a good job with Back In Action, and there's just more experience out there now. I think it would be great if Williams did return, but I can't see it happening, and Goldberg has been involved in this project for a long, long time, now, even working on some CG tests years back. So I'd perhaps expect him to be the guru on this one, with the animation handled in-house by Disney's rebuilt traditional crew.

As I said, this works as a win-win all around, including providing a hit film that Lasseter can use to show the brass that traditional animation is not dead, it just needs the right projects.

[Darkblade]

A few of my friends think its gonna take place in the 70's, but if it does it would be interesting to see a cameo of Fritz the cat in this. Like him being at a table trying to hit on a chick but later getting hit with a purse.

[Randall]

Oh, I really don't think Disney would have Fritz in there.

Interesting idea, though.

[Darkblade]

I know its not likely gonna happen Randall but still would be nice to see an appearance of a character that made animation change during its time. Say two questions, 1. Is Alan Silvestri going to return for the music? If he isnt than we got ourselves a problem here. Alan's score for this film was one of a kind. And 2. If they are gonna get other characters in the film is it even possible for Tex Avery's wolf to get an appearance? I remember hearing from a friend of mine that he was originally to have an appearance during Jessica's performance but that got scrapped.

[Ben]

Fritz "a character that made animation change"? No way, man! Sure, the movie was a surprise independent hit that found a bit of infamy among the drug culture, but did it change anything? Nope, not at all.

Anyway, about your questions...

1) Interesting one. Originally, RR2 was going to be a prequel, about Roger coming to LA and meeting showgirl Jessica, with songs written by Alan Menken. Another draft, Toon Platoon, started in New York and had Roger involved in World War II, though that might have been some kind of subplot. I would have suspected Menken would have written the score for those versions too. BUT...recently the project has moved away from those ideas and towards something new as cooked up by Price and Seaman. If that's the case, and they don't use the prequel ideas or any of Menken's songs, then as Zemeckis' composer of choice, Silvestri would automatically be back in the scoring chair. Of course, they could still use the songs if they needed to or if they found a place for them, but I'd bet Silvestri will be back.

2) Anything's possible. In the original film - before Warners bought out the Ted Turner library remember - the MGM characters couldn't be negotiated, hence why no Tom & Jerry either, who were also lined up to be in a scene at one point, and in the "cartoon celebration" shots at the end. This time around, Warners own the lot, meaning that the MGM characters could be incorporated as long as the licensing can be thrashed out. As I said above, if Warners have any sense, they'll drive a hard bargain but say yes at the end of the day, considering the amount of money this thing could make, and a deal such as the ones Disney set up to include other companies' characters in Toy Story 3 isn't out of the realms of reality.

[Darkblade]

Digging up the soundtrack to listen to again. Man good stuff

[Ben]

Ya know...that's a copyrighted link!

But funny...I got the old CD out last night and gave it a play. I love how the music is mostly reworked suites of the score, not actually how it appeared in the film. Perhaps an Intrada or FSM reissue could present the entire score as originally intended/as in the film, like they just did with Silvestri's first Back To The Future. That would be pretty cool!

[gaastra]

Bob hoskins has signed on for roger rabbit 2!

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/st ... el_1167482

Looks like eddie will return.

[Darkblade]

Wow. Suprised to see him return, then again. It aint valiant without hoskins.

[Locall]

oh God, that article says the film will be fully animated with the same techniques used in Christmas Carol.... NOT AGAIN!!! please Zemeckis, stop, STOP, STOOOOOOP IT!!!!

[EricJ]

Besides, thought he lost his studio...

[estefan]

Apparently, Hoskins didn't get the memo. Zemeckis specifically said he's doing hand-drawn animation and live-action.

[Ben]

I told you!

Of course, the mo-cap could be used to feature Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant without looking like a day has gone by since part one...or maybe even younger if the prequel rumors hold true?

...which lends credibility to my hunch that he will get Bob Hoskins back to reprise Eddie Valiant, but that it will be a 1947/1988 Eddie Valiant as in the original, not Hoskins as he looks now.

I'm glad Hoskins himself shares our worry. But this does sound like it's going to be awful now, unless they're just going to use the de-aging on Hoskins to make him appear younger. But that could scrub out the prequel ideas. And more than it being a film Zemeckis seemed resigned to make to deliver a hit that he could then build Yellow Submarine on, it sounds like he's using the promise of delivering another Roger Rabbit simply as a way to pushing his crappy mo-cap process at us one more time.

Seriously, if he abandons Sony Imageworks for his imagery and goes with Weta, this could have a chance. But Imageworks/Imagemovers can't do humans for toffee and it's going to look awful. A CG cartoon with hand-drawn cartoons within that? Ugh! Unless it's even worse than that and they're going back to all-CG characters too!?

Not to make a wabbit joke, but as a HUGE fan of the original, I'm not a happy bunny!