“The Return of Roger Rabbit” on MousePlanet

If you’re a hardcore Roger Rabbit fan like us, maybe you’d like to read this excellent article from Jim Korkis at MousePlanet. He give us all the info we know about the 25th. Anniversary of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, the gossips about the proposed sequels (Robert Zemeckis and Gary Wolf’s ones) and the troubled life or a rabbit which only purpose in life is making people laugh.

But he also interviews Gary Wolf about the motivation to write a new novel involving the wacky rabbit and his friends, the proposal for “The Stooge” and how he sees Roger Rabbit in his own mind. It’s definitively worth a read, so you can’t miss this article if you love good old Roger or if you want to know a little more about the man behind the rabbit =)

The fake news… Weren’t that fake after all

Maybe you’ve already read my latest rant about some online blogs giving as a fact the last entry on Gary Wolf’s blog about a buddy movie starring Roger Rabbit and Mickey Mouse, which will feature Walt Disney and a cameo by Orson Welles.

It was too good to be real, so I went full skeptic.

But, know what? It’s actually real, and it’s actually happening!!

A person who is closer to Gary Wolf than me (who wants to remain anonymous) told me those news are, in fact, real. “The Stooge” is an actual in-development project, which is being discussed with Disney and Pixar at this moment. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be greenlighted, but there’s a slight chance they pull the trigger and give “The Stooge” a try.

My most sincere apologies to Ain’t It Cool News and Bleeding Cool for my rant on the last entry of my blog. Also my most sincere apologies to Gary Wolf and his star columnist Walter Windchill.

This is the second time I rant about legit news that are actually happening. Maybe I should be less skeptic and more receptive to those kind of news.

Hey guys from Ain’t It Cool News and Bleeding Cool: do you realize than…?

…Those “news” posted in Gary Wolf’s blog about a Roger Rabbit movie, are not supposed to happen in real world?

If you can read carefully, the pen name of the guy writing the info is none other than Walter Windchill: a gossip columnist for the Toontown Telltale (some kind of tabloid on Toontown) who also will be one of the core characters in the upcoming novel “Who Wacked Roger Rabbit?” to be released later on this year. Walter was introduced in one of Gary’s blog earlier posts, and he’s posting in behalf of Gary Wolf some news to us Roger Rabbit fans in the real world, and some other news which only happen in the world of toons and wacky antics we know as Toontown.

Also, how in tarnation would you get Walt Disney and Orson Welles to star in a movie, without bringing’em from the dead via CGI or Mo-Cap? And without bringing a load of lawsuits and hurt feelings from their fans, relatives, heirs and estate owners?

Finally, just read the entry. Really. This isn’t meant to be taken seriously. And I mean, seriously as “is this really happening?”.

Shame on you Ain’t It Cool News and Bleeding Cool. Get your facts checked before posting this kind of “fake” news (which are fake to us, but very real for people in Toontown, you know ;) ).

WFRR 2 is again dead: NOT THIS S**T AGAIN

ImNotBad.com tipped me about Zemeckis finally giving a full explanation of his cryptic answer at the UK premiere of his latest movie, “Flight”, in which he confirms “Roger Rabbit 2” is shelved.

Yes, again. Like, ever.

Full info on Bleeding Cool’s article about this matter.

P.S. The only thing I can think now are curse words, so I apologize for the short entry. Hope this pic can express how dissapointed I am:

WFRR 2: Zemeckis’ crew says “IT’S ON”, Zemeckis itself says “NO WAY”… WHAT’S GOING ON?

Color us confused right now.

Bleeding Cool posted a couple of videos: one of those is very uplifting for the ones which (like us) are waiting the long-delayed sequel of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, while the other leaves us severely confused and annoyed, to say the least.

In the first one, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey (producing partners of Robert Zemeckis) confirm there’s a “Roger Rabbit 2” in the works and that also the recently-retired Bob Hoskins “is ready to do it” (they talk about the possibility of bringing him with digital technology):

Meanwhile, the other video shows Bob Zemeckis denying any kind of sequel to Roger Rabbit, which makes us wonder: we know that possibly there won’t be a sequel, BUT a prequel (like the last failed attempts back in the 90’s), so… Is he being cryptic, like always? Or does he know something we don’t know about how Disney is considering a sequel to WFRR?:

Make your own conclusions, fellas. With the recent shelving of “Yellow Submarine”, it will no wonder us that RR2 will be canned… For the third time. Let’s hope for the best anyway.

Thanks to ImNotBad.com for the tip!

Zemeckis spills some more details.

Robert Zemeckis is in the news again. This time assuring us the toons won't be CGI, and that it will not be set in modern times. So I guess that means they'll stick with the classic and timeless cartoon characters like Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies again. Sounds like good news to me.
Read all about it at Joblo.com

Finally! Some news about “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” sequel

Finally some sequel of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” could happen, says Showbiz 411’s Roger Friedman, who interviewed Robert Zemeckis about his upcoming live-action movie “Flight”.

Basically the article says Zemeckis has submitted a script to Disney executives, which are in a kind of settle-down moment after Alan Horn got the big chair at the Mouse House. He also says he’s feeling sad about Bob Hoskins’ retirement, but he still believes the sequel project it’s on the go despite the loss of “Eddie Valiant”.

Are you as optimistic as Robert Zemeckis? Do you think a sequel without Bob Hoskins could work? Would they resurrect Rick Flint, the detective from Roger Rabbit’s comic magazines? Are we there yet, actually?

P-p-p-p-please share your opinions, I’ll be eager to discuss them! =D

New old news

Old news, but it's first time I have heard of this so I figure I might as well post it to fill in those who haven't heard of it.
Earlier last year, in October actress Paula Patton reported on her site that she was going to play a character named "Witch Boom" in Roger Rabbit 2. Possibly a relative of or character similar to Judge Doom judging from the name.
This was before it was reported the sequel was getting stalled so I'm not sure if it's still happening.
Thanks to commenter Philip for letting us know.

It’s official: Roger Rabbit 2 is being “dipped” again

There aren’t any surprises here, after tons of promises about getting a sequel from our favorite movie and being dissapointed again and again.

As ImNotBad.com reports, “Roger Rabbit 2” got stalled since the script from the proposed sequel is taking too long to be settled, and producers Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg aren’t willing to get into Robert Zemeckis’ project by the moment. Put into Kathleen Kennedy’s words:

“We’ve attempted a script, but it’s not really moving forward right now,” said Kennedy. “That’s not to say it won’t in the future, but there’s no spotlight on it now.”

Yup: no Roger Rabbit 2. We saw this coming.

You can read the full note on ImNotBad.com or /Film.

Robert Zemeckis is back with “Animated American”… Could this be actually RR2?

Finally, after several weeks of hiatus found some interesting info that might be of your interest!

Slashfilm - Rob Edwards Writing Robert Zemeckis Project ‘Animated American’

Seems that Robert Zemeckis wasn’t already done with Disney, since he’s now in charge of a project named “Animated American”, which is apparently a mix of live-action and animation like “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”.

The script, which is written by “The Princess and the Frog” screenwriter Rob Edwards features an animated baby being raised by a human family until he turns 18 and decides to say farewell to his foster family, in his search for his real animated family. Doesn’t that sounds awfully familiar? Since the discarded sequel “Roger Rabbit II: Toon Squad” features the very same original premise but spiced with jews, some nazi fellas and some WWII scenery (thanks goodness it never came to fruition, since I’d hate knowing about Roger’s actual father… Yes, THAT despicable rabbit).

If you’re following me, then you’ve got enough reasons to think “Animated American” is just a working title for “Roger Rabbit 2”… And let’s hope Disney and Zemeckis are actually working on this! =3

Zemeckis’ Yellow Submarine has sunk; Roger Rabbit 2 could be next?

Since “Mars Needs Moms” opening weekend was a total disaster for Disney, seems they’ve had enough of Robert Zemeckis and his creepy Mo-Cap movies and they’re kicking out the “Yellow Submarine” project:

Reuters - Disney torpedoes Zemeckis'
"Yellow Submarine" 

So, at least we got rid of this project for a while… But this will mean Zemeckis won’t have enough funding for keeping “Roger Rabbit 2” alive? Let’s analyze the facts: Disney has been rather skeptical with Zemeckis projects since “A Christmas’ Carol” failed to meet box office expectations, shutting down their joint venture with the now troubled director (ImageMovers Digital). Besides, it’s said Zemeckis is looking for a live-action movie to direct after “Mars Needs Moms” failure. Add the lack of news about “RR2” to the mixture, and we have the perfect recipe for yet another failed attempt of pulling out a sequel from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”.

Let’s wait for more news about this particular issue. Anyway, I feel like walking the same old path again… :(

If you have any doubts about Roger Rabbit 2…

…There’s again Robert Zemeckis, doing what he loves to do: giving us small updates of the upcoming sequel. This time he talks for MTV News in an event celebrating the 25th. anniversary of “Back To The Future”. He specifically talks about the script that Jeffrey Price and Peter Seaman are pulling out:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Yes: the guy loves to be cryptic. At least we’re getting used to it ;)

So, what do you think? =3

Bob Hoskins signs up for Roger Rabbit 2

United Kingdom’s Daily Telegraph revealed us today that Eddie Valiant is back on duty!

I mean, Bob Hoskins finally admitted he signed up for the upcoming sequel of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit" but also has some doubts about the movie being fully animated, as Zemeckis suggested some time ago.

Quoting his own words:

"I don't know how it's going to work out. The format they want to do is the same as we did for (2009 animated movie) "A Christmas Carol." The thing is, it looks like a cartoon, so how do you put a cartoon in the middle of a cartoon? I can't figure out how they are going to do it."

What worries me is when Hoskins says Robert Zemeckis will be animating the whole movie, even when the director revealed some months ago this sequel project will be similar to the original movie, I mean: a mix of animation and live action (although it might be presented in 3D).

At least we know “Roger Rabbit 2” is going ahead, and Bob Hoskins will play some kind of role in that movie (we still don’t know if he’ll reprise Eddie Valiant, but we hope he does it =D ).

Roger Rabbit 2 – In 3D?

Robert Zemeckis was interviewed while attending the “Cine & Chianti” retrospective in Tuscany (Italy) and he talked again about the upcoming Roger Rabbit sequel. He said that probably Steven Spielberg will join him again for the making of this movie (Spielberg producing, Zemeckis directing), but also kinda revealed that the sequel might be presented in 3D!!

But don’t get alarmed fellas: he talks about the 3D feature that’s the current trend on movie theaters, not the CGI-animated graphics. The animation on the sequel will remain 2D and live action sequences will be filmed, just like in the original movie. Even he explains the differences between the 3D films that are being projected currently (the computer-made ones and true 3D films that require special equipment for its filming, against the 2D movies converted to 3D) and how Roger Rabbit 2 will take advantage of the newest technologies for providing a better experience to the audiences.

The whole interview was uploaded by Youtube user sentieriselvaggi and Zemeckis starts to talk about the RR sequel at the 1:47 mark:

I can’t imagine Roger popping just in front of my eyes… I’ll bet that would be a great experience if it’s done in the right way, and sure you will feel like if you were actually in Toontown =D

Roger Rabbit 2 – It’s on its way!!

I’m glad to share with you guys some news that will make us very, very, very happy. How much? Well… Let's say your eyes aren’t kidding you: the title of this entry is right!

“Who Framed Roger Rabbit”

is

finally

getting

a sequel!!

When interviewed by Empire Magazine about the upcoming projects coming from the House of Mouse, a.k.a. Disney, producer Don Hahn commented about “The Lion King” getting the 3-D treatment (which is also getting “Beauty and the Beast”) but also spilled some beans about the upcoming Roger Rabbit sequel. In the same criptic way we’re getting used to, Hahn told Empire that…

“Yeah, I couldn’t possibly comment. I deny completely, but yeah… if you’re a fan, pretty soon you’re going to be very, very, very happy.”

With all this rumors and promises from the upcoming movie, I can’t wait to be very, very, very happy!  Mr. Hahn, p-p-p-p-p-please help Disney to bring Roger Rabbit back!!

Kathleen Turner might get “drawn this way” again!

According to mexican news agency Notimex, which article (in spanish) was published in a very respected newspaper, Kathleen Turner (who’s turning 56 years old this saturday) is considering to reprise her role as Jessica Rabbit in the upcoming sequel to “Who Roger Rabbit”, which is scheduled to be released in 2012.

Although the article is mainly focused on Turner’s career, it also talks a little about the upcoming movie: Roger and his friends will return with an improved look, but they will remain 2D-animated (so there’s no need to worry about the honey bunny and his sultry wife becoming some sort of weird CGI monsters, huh-huh!).

Great news, dont’cha think so? =D

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

Disney shuts ImageMovers Digital… No RR sequel?

In which seems to be a cost-saving move, The Walt Disney Co. is closing ImageMovers Digital (its own joint venture with director Robert Zemeckis) by January 2011. What’s exactly ImageMovers Digital or IMD? Maybe some movies will refresh your mind: The Polar Express, Beowulf and Disney’s A Christmas Carol. Yup: they did all of them, using Performance Capture, better known as MoCap.

Los Angeles Times goes even deeper in that matter:

Los Angeles Times – Disney to shut ImageMovers Digital Studio

What does this means to us Roger Rabbit fans? Well, let’s see… Apparently, the upcoming Robert Zemeckis projects won’t be done through that studio, and even they’re seriously endangered. So maybe we couldn’t get that controversial “Yellow Submarine” remake… Or the much-awaited-yet-so-delayed-and-so-much-promoted Roger Rabbit sequel.

Speculators say that maybe Avatar opened Disney’s execs eyes and realized that Zemeckis’ technology was already outdated (although I personally think they were getting close to it on “A Christmas Carol”), so they decided to discard IMD and focus all their efforts --and money in another Disney ventures (likely Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios). They just needed a good excuse, and James Cameron helped them to get it.

Let’s wait to get some more news. But, again, I feel like being in the same old sinking boat. Won’t somebody think on Roger?

“Judge Doom” wants to get Roger Rabbit again!

As Digital Spy published yesterday, Christopher Lloyd (better known for his roles as Judge Doom in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and Doc Emmet Brown in the “Back to the Future” trilogy) is very excited about the upcoming Roger Rabbit sequel, and he would like to reprise his role as the evil, red-eyed cartoon who became judge thanks to a couple of zillion simoleons:

Digital Spy - Christopher Lloyd up for 'Rabbit' sequel

Personally, I don’t think Judge Doom comes back from death to haunt Roger, Jessica, Eddie and the gang (neither him or the Toon Patrol). But he can still get into the project, if Bob Zemeckis asks him.

What do you think? =3

…And Robert Zemeckis keeps doing it

I mean, teasing us with more info tidbits about Roger Rabbit’s sequel. This time, at an interview he had with Empire Online, he gave us a couple of hints about the way he would film RR2:

Yeah, I mean, you know, we have the tools now and we can actually, uhmmm, really make a spectacular version of Roger Rabbit if the screenplay turns out to be something that’s really good…

(…)

Yes, you know, it depends on… You know, I mean: it depends on… It probably should be made in the tradition of the first movie.

What does this mean? Well… I don’t know if he talks about filming live action sequences, that will be mixed with digitally animated sequences and MoCap, of if he wants to keep the storyline of the first movie, or something else.

Come on Zemeckis, stop playing with our minds! We just want the rabbit back under the spotlights, p-p-p-p-p-please!! >.<