Jim Hill: From the Archives
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Now don't blame Eisner. 

Disney has learned the hard way about waiting too long to produce follow-up films. The studio's Another Stakeout - coming six years after the 1987 original starring Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez - died a dog's death at the box office. The Rescuers Down Under - released thirteen years after the original animated feature - also under-performed. And let's not even get started on Return to Oz...

There is also a general rule of thumb in Hollywood concerning sequels: Follow-up films rarely make more than 2/3rds of what the original film grossed. Since Who Discovered Roger Rabbit's production costs had been projected to go well over $100 million, while its estimated box office take looked to be well under that amount, it just didn't make sense for Eisner to go forward with development of the feature.

So - with the project's age and projected cost weighing against it -- all pre-production work was suspended in the summer of 1999. Eisner took the money he had been earmarked for the Roger Rabbit follow-up and shifted it over to another event film Disney had in development: Tennessee. (Now known as Pearl Harbor, this is Michael Bay's big budget blockbuster for the summer of 2001. An epic romance set in the early days of World War II, this massive motion picture - initially budgeted at $140 million - has been described as Titanic meets Tora! Tora! Tora!)

So is the Roger Rabbit sequel really dead? 

One learns to never say never in Hollywood. If there were suddenly a bunch of movies that featured animation and live action that hit it big at the box office, Disney would definitely take another look at doing Who Discovered Roger Rabbit?

Co-incidentally, there are two films coming out this summer that mix live action and animation. The first is 20th Century Fox's Monkeybone, a dark fantasy starring Brendan Fraser. Directed by former Disney stop motion guru Henry (The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach) Selick, this film's currently slated to bow in May.

Then in June, Universal unleashes The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle This film mixes - just as Who Discovered Roger Rabbit was supposed to - CGI cartoon characters with live actors.

I'll say this much. The Rocky and Bullwinkle production team at least have the good graces to acknowledge their debt to Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In the teaser trailer that hit theaters over the holiday season, a William Conrad-esque announcer breathlessly described the forthcoming film as "the most spectacular mix of live action and animation Hollywood has ever attempted."

There's now an abrupt switch to live action footage. Boris (Jason Alexander), Natasha (Rene Russo) and Fearless Leader (Robert DeNiro) stride purposefully down a corridor, with their evil minions in tow. One of the henchmen says to Fearless Leader: "But isn't this just like that Roger Rabbit movie?"

Fearless Leader turns ferociously on this disrespectful oaf. Slapping his riding crop down on his thigh, Fearless Leader snarls: "This is NOTHING like that movie."

Funny, funny bit.

Anyway - if either Monkeybone or The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle films make big dough at the box office this coming summer - look for Disney to make one more try at resurrecting Roger Rabbit.

Unless - of course - Steven Spielberg won't let them.

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- Jim Hill

- Posted May 3, 2001
- Originally published on another website in March 2000.