Meet Roger Rabbit – In 3D!!

Finally, what many Roger Rabbit fans consider the missing link has appeared!! Remember about that sequel project aborted by Michael Eisner, in which Roger would be computer-animated?

Well… Here’s finally the source of that frame!! This video was found at Brendan Body’s Blog, and it was animated by Eric Guaglione, who worked with Disney by the time the Roger Rabbit sequel was under pre-production:

Eric Guaglione's Roger Rabbit 2 Test from Brendan Body on Vimeo.

So there it is, fellas! Did you like it? =D

You can read more info about this animated test going to the entry related to this vid on Brendan Body’s Blog. What do I think about this? Well, let’s say I’m pretty amazed =3

Roger meets Roger

Roger Bros. Index card drawing by ~spongefox on deviantART

If you ask me, it was about time someone paired both Roger Rabbits: the one from the movie pre-production era, and the Roger we all know and love. It makes me wonder about how the movie would’ve turned if Disney executives used the first incarnation of Roger Rabbit (made in-house) instead of bringing Richard Williams to design him, Jessica, Benny and the gang.

Of course, this lovely drawing was made by SpongeFox; you can check more of her cartoon-related artwork visiting her blog =D

P.D. You’ll get kudos if you know why’s the first Roger wearing that particular outfit ;)

Roger Rabbit back in 1983 –Yes, 1983!!

Yup. They are Eddie Valiant and Roger Rabbit.

As you probably know, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” was canned for a while since Disney bought the rights to Gary Wolf’s novel “Who Censored Roger Rabbit?” and the Mouse House’s executives were trying to pull a movie out of that bizarre yet funny novel, until they gave up because they didn’t have the budget for a project like this one.

Well… 2719 Hyperion bring us this pic from the 1983 Disney’s Annual Report, in which a Roger Rabbit movie is mentioned as being near to its theatrical release (little did they know that the movie would be actually premiered in 1988, with a very different look and feel). This photograph shows Mike Gabriel (a Disney animator, storyboard artist and character designer) dressed as Eddie Valiant, along with Roger Rabbit in his first incarnation, mainly inspired in Tex Avery’s cartoons as the design suggests.

You can read more about this in 2719 Hyperion’s entry about Roger Rabbit, 1983-style =3

Roger Rabbit Conceptual Poster 2

Remember the prototype poster I’ve featured in one of our past entries? In that one, I mentioned another variation of that poster, and even made my guesses about it posting another conceptual design…

Well, I was wrong. This one is the real variation of that poster:

As the last time, the auction can be found at eBay:

eBay - ORIGINAL Disney Painting Roger Rabbit STEVEN CHORNEY
(the link may not work if you’re reading this after October 2009)

Although this one is just the painting without any logos or lettering, it's still an awesome illustration. Anyway, it wasn't used for the final version of the theatrical poster (which as we already know, features a Roger Rabbit silhouette made with 35mm. film, that has embedded some promotional stills from the movie) maybe because it looked too "childish".

P.S. The other painting is already sold, so I guess this one won't last for long =3

Roger Rabbit Conceptual Poster

Sometimes you can find a piece of history being auctioned at eBay. This time, I stumbled upon this unique piece of art, that seems to be a conceptual painting for the theatrical poster of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”:

The auction can be found in the following link:

eBay - ORIGINAL Disney Painting Roger Rabbit STEVEN CHORNEY
(the link may not work if you’re reading this after September 2009)

By the way, in that link is mentioned that exists another variation of this painting that was auctioned some time ago. I’m not really sure, but I guess this is the painting the seller talks about:

Notice how both of the posters feature Bob Hoskins and Christopher Lloyd names along with Roger Rabbit’s name, as the main actors in the movie. Also, those paintings bear the “Walt Disney Pictures” brand, instead of “Touchstone Pictures” (what reflects that those paintings were made on pre-production stages, or maybe along with development of the movie).

Although those paintings are great, I think the final theatrical poster was the most appropiate choice for promoting the movie. I mean: looking at those posters above makes me think about a fully animated movie, aimed to kids. The final poster really shows more of the true nature of the film, and looks more grown-up:

(By the way: I have this poster framed in my own room =3 )