After 37 years, a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit is finally in the works—though not with Disney. In a recent interview with ImNotBad.com, a site dedicated exclusively to Jessica Rabbit news, author Gary K. Wolf revealed that he quietly regained the rights to Roger Rabbit last year. “I now have back the rights to all my characters, all my books. I can, basically, create my own Roger Rabbit projects,” he shared.
Wolf was able to reclaim ownership through the 35-Year Copyright Reversion Clause, which allows original creators to regain rights to their works after 35 years. He noted that the process was quite straightforward, as Disney did not oppose the rights reversion.
“I expected it to be a contentious process. Who knows what might happen? But it wasn’t. It was very civil, very courteous, very straightforward,” Wolf explained. “Disney was always excellent to me. They treated me very well and accommodated my requests.” Now that Wolf owns his characters again, he plans to reintroduce audiences to Roger Rabbit and Toontown through several new projects.
He mentioned that there’s interest in revisiting the first film more closely aligned with the original book, Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which features word balloons and more comic-style characters. “That’s on the table,” he said, along with an adaptation of his 2022 book, Jessica Rabbit: XERIOUS Business.
The most prominent project Wolf mentioned is a live-action Jessica Rabbit film based on the book Jessica Rabbit: XERIOUS Business. This has been the first project they’ve actively developed and is currently the furthest along.
At this time, no studios or production companies are involved in Wolf’s Roger Rabbit universe. However, he expressed a strong desire to collaborate with Disney again. “I’d love for Disney to participate. We could partner up. There’s a core group from the first movie—Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy—and I’d love to work with them again. I’d also love Charles Fleischer to reprise his role as the voice of Roger,” he said.
Until Wolf’s new Roger Rabbit projects come to fruition, fans can continue to enjoy Who Framed Roger Rabbit on Disney+.
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