Jim Hill: From the Archives
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The follow-up to this hit motion picture is almost a decade overdue. Plans for sure-fire Disney theme park attractions based on the characters [other than the one-off "Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin" at Disneyland's ToonTown] just lay around WDI, gathering dust.

What happened? The answer lies in that 50 / 50 deal Eisner made with Spielberg. Both Disney and Amblin own half of the copyright on the characters created for Who Framed Roger Rabbit. That means - before any project involving Roger can move forward - both sides have to agree exactly on the exact terms of the contract. Every time Roger appears in a film or a theme park attraction or even on a toy, there's a lengthy negotiation between Disney and Spielberg's lawyers involved.

As you might imagine, this sort of micro-management takes up a lot of time... which is why Roger Rabbit's career has been on hold these years past ten years.

Mind you, it wasn't always like this. Back in 1989 -- right after Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released to universal acclaim and the film did boffo business at the box office -- both Disney and Spielberg were anxious to cash in on the film's popularity.

So, hoping to keep the character fresh in the public's mind, Disney quickly put a new Roger Rabbit short, Tummy Trouble, into production. Spielberg okayed the idea, as well as the Mouse's plan to fold elements from the hit film into their then still-under-construction Disney / MGM Studio Theme Park.

Guests who visited that park during its first year of operation may remember how prominently Roger Rabbit and friends were featured at the studio theme park. Folks who took the backstage tram tour rolled past many of the props used in the film, including Eddie Valiant's roadster & a "Red Car" trolley. They even encountered a recreation of the Acme Warehouse, where they were menaced by the Dipmobile.

After exiting the tram, guests followed Roger's large footprints into the Looney Bin. There, they could play among the props in the Acme Gagworks or have their picture taken cuddling with Jessica and / or careening around ToonTown inside Benny the Cab. Other Who Framed Roger Rabbit props were featured prominently inside the Special Effects workshop.

That summer, Tummy Trouble debuted in theaters nationwide. Audiences flocked to see the new short (as well as the feature film that followed it: Honey, I Shrunk the Kids). Given the response at the box office, it was obvious that Roger was no one hit wonder.

Properly handled, it looked this rabbit could be a perennial. A character with legs. Someone like Mickey or Donald who could stay popular with audiences not for just a year, but for decades at a time. An evergreen money machine.

That was Disney's goal, anyway. So - with the hope of keeping the Roger Rabbit gravy train rolling - the Mouse quickly cut a deal with Spielberg to co-produce a sequel to the first film. They then announced that they'd be following up Tummy Trouble with a whole new series of Roger Rabbit shorts. The next installment, Roller Coaster Rabbit, would actually be produced at its Disney / MGM animation studio in Florida.

It all seemed too good to last.

It was.

It was actually the next short that started all the problems.

Spielberg wanted "oller Coaster Rabbit to be shown in front of a film Amblin was producing for the Walt Disney Company. (A little side note here: That film, Arachnophobia, was actually the first title to be released through Disney's Hollywood Pictures division). On the other hand, Disney just blew $45 million making Warren Beatty's troubled summer blockbuster, Dick Tracy.

Knowing that Beatty's big screen comic book was going to need all the help it could get to make back its production costs, Disney wanted to put Roller Coaster Rabbit in front of Dick Tracy. (Why? Because - the previous summer - Disney's Honey, I Shrunk the Kids  had made $124 million. Some people thought that the film had become a hit on its own. But there were an equally large number of folks at the studio who felt that Honey only did as well as it did because it had a new Roger Rabbit short showing in front of it.)

In the end, Disney got what it wanted. Dick Tracy - thanks in part to the Roger Rabbit short that ran in front of it - wasn't exactly a hit, but it did make back its production costs. On the other hand, Arachnophobia, despite some great reviews, under-performed. (Making just $52 million, the movie barely covered its promotion and production costs.) It became obvious that Arachnophobia could have really used the extra box office juice that would have come from having a new Roger rabbit short in front of it. But  Dick Tracy and the Mouse had won that time ...

Spielberg - a man who is used to getting what he wants - was upset at what he perceived as Disney's slight. As a co-owner of Roger Rabbit, he felt that he should have had more of a say in how the character was being used -- particularly concerning which short got put in front of which movie.

So Spielberg decided to make his position regarding Roger Rabbit and Disney clear. He waited 'til Disney actually had a new short, Hare in My Soup, in production. Then Spielberg announced "I don't like the story for the new short. Without my approval, you can't go forward with this film. Shut down production."

Given that these were indeed the terms of the Roger Rabbit deal, Disney reluctantly halted work on Hare in My Soup. None of the other story ideas for shorts the Mouse pitched to Spielberg met his fancy either. As a result, there was no new Roger Rabbit short that year. (Not so co-incidentally, the film Hare in My Soup would have appeared in front of - The Rocketeer - which went on to under-perform at the box office. It could have really benefited from all the excitement having a new Roger Rabbit short.

It would be two years before Spielberg would allow work to proceed on a new Roger Rabbit short, Trail Mix-Up.