About a year ago, there were rumblings about some huge news coming to the Roger Rabbit universe. It has now been confirmed that the character’s creator, Gary K. Wolf, has regained his copyright!
A herculean task considering how notorious Disney is for not wanting to relinquish rights to characters.
“I now have back the rights to all my characters, all my books,” Wolf told ImNotBad.com. “I can, basically, do my own Roger Rabbit projects.”
He was able to regain the rights via the 35-Year Copyright Reversion Clause. Basically, the creator of a work can petition the Library of Congress to regain the rights to it 35 years after any deal is made. And Wolf did just that, he also cites this as the reason for the upcoming “This is Spinal Tap” sequel. But what this means for fans is much, much more Roger Rabbit, and a Jessica Rabbit movie!
“The one that is most prominent … is a live-action Jessica Rabbit movie based on the book Jessica Rabbit: XERIOUS Business,” Wolf said. “That was the first project that we took a look at and the first we started developing. It’s probably the one that’s furthest along right now.”
“Any sequels that we do have to at least match the quality of the original [1988] movie,” he added. “In production value, in tone, in script content, in empathy, in character development. It has to be as good, or better than, what we did before. That’s what the fans want, and I have promised the fans that’s what I’m going to give them.”
The Discovery
It all started with Wolf trying to find out if he was allowed to use Toontown, a question he admits was never answered. In the process of answering that question, a lawyer found the 35-year clause and believed that Roger Rabbit qualified. After verifying this with other independent attorneys, Wolf sent the letter, and his request was granted.
Disney is often painted in a bad light by the company’s own actions when it comes to protecting its IP rights. However, Wolf has nothing but kind things to say.
“I expected that this would be a contentious process. Who knows what was going to happen? But, it was not. It was very civil, very courteous, very straightforward,” he said.
Adding, “Disney was always top-notch for me. They treated me very well. They always accommodated me in whatever I wanted to do.”
What’s Next For Roger Rabbit?
This whole deal actually went down about a year ago when the rumors of something big started to spread. So, this announcement comes after the team has had some time to get their ducks in a row in terms of new content.
“The things that we are looking at now are movies based on my novels, which I now have the rights to again. A lot of people have asked why didn’t we do the first movie more closely to the Who Censored Roger Rabbit book, with the word balloons and those kinds of characters. Well, that’s on the table.”
Even with new stories to explore, Wolf is still more than willing to get the crew from the 1988 film back together.
“I would love to work with Disney again. I’d love for Disney to participate in this. We could partner up on this. There’s a core group of people who were involved with the first movie, and I would love to work with those people again. Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy. I’d love to have Charles Fleischer come back and voice the rabbit again.”
There is no word on whether any of these people would be willing to return. Given Wolf’s phrasing, we doubt they’ve even been approached yet, but we are excited to see where the future of Roger Rabbit lies.
“I’m looking to have fun with this and give the fans what they have been wanting now for 35 years.”
You can watch the whole interview with Wolf below:
