Walt Disney Studios purchased thefilm rights for the story in 1981. Price and Seaman wrote two drafts of the script before Disney brought in executive producerSteven Spielberg and his production company,Amblin Entertainment. Zemeckis was brought on to direct, and Canadian-British animatorRichard Williams was hired to supervise the animation sequences. Production was moved fromLos Angeles toElstree Studios in England to accommodate Williams and his group of animators. While filming, the production budget rapidly expanded, and the shooting schedule ran longer than expected.
In 1947 Los Angeles, animated cartoon characters, or "toons", co-exist with humans, often working as film stars. Private detectiveEddie Valiant, once a staunch ally of the toons, has become a depressed alcoholic following his brother Teddy's murder by an unknown toon five years prior. Maroon Cartoon Studios owner R.K. Maroon, upset about the recent poor performance of his toon starRoger Rabbit, hires Eddie to investigate rumors that Roger's glamorous toon wife,Jessica, is having an affair with Marvin Acme, owner of both theAcme Corporation and Toontown, the animated metropolis in which toons reside.
After watching Jessica perform at The Ink and Paint Club, Eddie secretly photographs her and Acme playingpatty-cake. He shows the pictures to Roger, who becomes distraught and flees, refusing to believe Jessica was unfaithful. The next morning, Acme is found murdered and evidence at the scene implicates Roger. Eddie meetsJudge Doom, the sinister humanjudge of Toontown—having bribed the electorate for their votes—and his fiveweasel minions, the Toon Patrol. Doom reveals that he will execute Roger using the "Dip", a chemical concoction ofacetone,benzene, andturpentine, which can destroy the otherwise invulnerable toons.
Roger's toon co-star, Baby Herman, suggests to Eddie that Acme's missingwill, which supposedly bequeaths Toontown to the toons, may have been the killer's true motive. Eddie returns to his office and finds Roger waiting. Roger insists he has been framed and Eddie reluctantly agrees to help after finding evidence of Acme's will; he hides Roger in a bar tended by his girlfriend, Dolores. Later, Jessica tells Eddie that Maroon threatened Roger's career unless she posed for the compromising photos. Meanwhile, Dolores uncovers that Cloverleaf Industries recently bought the city'sPacific Electric railway system and will purchase Toontown at midnight unless Acme's will is found. Doom and the Toon Patrol find Roger, but he and Eddie escape with help from Benny, a toontaxi cab. Sheltering in a localmovie theater, Eddie sees a newsreel of Maroon selling his studio to Cloverleaf.
While Eddie goes to the studio to interrogate Maroon, Jessica abducts Roger. Maroon denies involvement in Acme's murder, admitting he intended toblackmail Acme into selling his company as otherwise Cloverleaf would not buy the studio. In the middle of his confession, Maroon is assassinated and Eddie spots Jessica fleeing the scene. Assuming she is the assailant, he reluctantly follows her into Toontown, choosing to discard the last of his alcohol. After saving Eddie from being shot by Doom, Jessica reveals her actions were to ensure Roger's safety and it was Doom who killed Acme and Maroon. Acme gave his will to Jessica for safety but, when she examined it, the paper was blank.
Doom and the Toon Patrol capture Jessica and Eddie, bringing them to Acme's factory. Doom reveals he isthe sole shareholder of Cloverleaf. He plans to erase Toontown with a Dip-spraying machine so he can build afreeway in its place, and decommission the railway system to force people to use it. When Roger fails to save Jessica, the couple is tied onto a hook in front of the machine's sprayer. Eddie performs a series of pratfalls that cause the weasels to laugh themselves to death, kicks their leader into the dip, and then fights Doom. After being flattened by asteamroller, Doom reveals himself as a disguised toon and Teddy's murderer. Struggling against Doom's toon abilities, Eddie empties the machine's Dip supply, spraying and dissolving Doom. The machine crashes through the wall into Toontown, where it is destroyed by apassenger train.
As police and toons gather at the scene, Eddie realizes that Acme's will was written on the blank paper in temporarilyinvisible ink, confirming the toons inherit Toontown. Having regained his sense of humor, Eddie happily enters Toontown alongside Dolores, Roger, Jessica, and the toons.
The film was finallygreen-lit when the budget decreased to $30 million, which at the time would have still made it the most expensive animated film ever produced.[24]Walt Disney Studios chairmanJeffrey Katzenberg argued that the hybrid of live-action and animation would "save"Walt Disney Feature Animation. Spielberg's contract included an extensive amount of creative control and a large percentage of thebox-office profits. Disney kept all merchandising rights.[24] Spielberg convincedWarner Bros.,Fleischer Studios,Harvey Comics,King Features Syndicate,Felix the Cat Productions,Turner Entertainment, andUniversal Pictures/Walter Lantz Productions to "lend" their characters to appear in the film with (in some cases) stipulations on how those characters were portrayed; for example, Disney'sDonald Duck and Warner Bros.'Daffy Duck appear as equally talented dueling pianists,Mickey Mouse andBugs Bunny also share a scene as skydivers, andTinker Bell andPorky Pig close the film.[21][22][25][26] Apart from the agreement, and some of the original voice artists reprising their roles, Warner Bros. and the various other companies were not involved in the production ofRoger Rabbit. Executives at Warner Bros. were displeased by animators using the Daffy design byBob Clampett and demanded they use the design byChuck Jones; in response Zemeckis had separate artists animate Daffy using Jones' design to satisfy Warner Bros., in order to have Clampett's design in the final film.[21][22][27] The producers were unable to acquire the rights to usePopeye,Tom and Jerry,Little Lulu,Casper the Friendly Ghost, or theTerrytoons characters for appearances from their respective owners (King Features, Turner,Western Publishing, Harvey Comics, andViacom).[21][22][28] Other characters like Warner Bros.'Bosko, Fleischer Studios'Fitz the Dog andBimbo;Ub Iwerks'Flip the Frog,[29] andHanna-Barbera'sYakky Doodle[30] were also planned to appear in the film. Despite acquiring the rights to useBetty Boop andKoko the Clown, King Features valued Koko highly, asking for $50,000 for a simple cameo appearance. To get around the high price and legal issues, the animators redesigned Koko to have hair resembling that ofBozo the Clown instead of a hat, and changed his colors at the end of the film.[31][32] The film was initially planned to not feature cameo appearances of characters created after 1947, with the exception ofWile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, who were Zemeckis' favorite cartoon characters.[28]
Terry Gilliam was offered the chance to direct, but he found the project too technically challenging. ("Pure laziness on my part," he later admitted, "I completely regret that decision.")[33] Robert Zemeckis was hired to direct in 1985, based on the success ofRomancing the Stone andBack to the Future. Disney executives were continuing to suggestDarrell Van Citters direct the animation, but Spielberg and Zemeckis decided against it.[24]Richard Williams was eventually hired to direct the animation. Zemeckis wanted the film to exhibit "Disney's high quality of animation, Warner Bros.' characterization, andTex Avery humor."[34]
Peter Renaday originally portrayed Eddie Valiant in the original test footage from 1983, while animatorMike Gabriel played him in some publicity photographs.[35][36]Joe Pantoliano portrayed Eddie Valiant in a screen test in 1986.[37]
Harrison Ford was Spielberg's original choice to play Eddie Valiant, but his price was too high.[38]Chevy Chase was the second choice, but he was not interested.[39]Eddie Murphy reportedly turned down the role as he misunderstood the concept of toons and humans co-existing; he later regretted this decision.[40][41] In 2025, Murphy elaborated, "[It] sounded ridiculous to me, and I passed on it. And afterwards, I was like, 'Oh, that's fucking amazing.'"[42]Bill Murray was also considered for the role, but due to his idiosyncratic method of receiving offers for roles, Murray missed out on it.[43]Robin Williams,Robert Redford,Jack Nicholson,Paul Newman,Sylvester Stallone,Edward James Olmos,Wallace Shawn,Ed Harris,Charles Grodin andDon Lane were also considered for the role.[39][44] Ultimately,Bob Hoskins was chosen by Spielberg because of his acting skill and because Spielberg believed he had a hopeful demeanor and he looked like he belonged in that era.[45]
Paul Reubens originally auditioned for the role ofRoger Rabbit and even provided his voice in an early 1983 screen test, but lost out.[46][47]Eddie Deezen, who had worked with Zemeckis previously, also auditioned for the role, but lost out.[48] The role was eventually given toCharles Fleischer.[46] Before filming, Fleischer was asked to come up with a speech impediment for Roger. He gave Roger a lisp and the stammering catchphrase "P-p-p-please!" as a tribute to all the other famous cartoon characters with speech impediments, which was inspired byHuntz Hall's Sach Jones inThe Bowery Boys.[49][50] He had invented the "cheek flutter" while performing the voice of B.B. inDeadly Friend.[51] His portrayal of Roger was also inspired byScrewy Squirrel.[52] To facilitate Hoskins' performance, Fleischer dressed in a Roger Rabbit costume and "stood in" behind camera for most scenes.[53] Williams explained that Roger was a combination of "Tex Avery's cashew nut-shaped head, the swatch of red hair... likeDroopy's,Goofy's overalls,Porky Pig's bow tie,Mickey Mouse's gloves,Br'er Rabbit's feet, andBugs Bunny-like cheeks and ears."[21][54][39][55] Spielberg suggested that Roger's mouth resemble that ofThumper fromBambi (who was made Roger's uncle in the film),[56] but this idea was ignored.[28] Williams also citedWile E. Coyote as an influence for Roger's expressions,[57] and wanted the character to have ladle-shaped ears, though his animators would sometimes draw Roger with pointy ears similar to Bugs, much to Williams' frustration.[54] He described the process of creating him like an "American flag" with the red overalls, white fur and blue bow tie so that American audiences would enjoy him subliminally.[58]
Kathleen Turner was brought along by Zemeckis to provide the uncredited voice ofJessica Rabbit, Roger Rabbit's wife. Zemeckis had worked with Turner inRomancing the Stone. Turner accepted the role because she was pregnant at the time, and "just had to show up and do [Jessica's] voice".[59] Williams explained that Jessica's design and characterization were inspired byRita Hayworth,Veronica Lake's peek-a-boo hairstyle, andLauren Bacall, describing the combination as an "ultimate male fantasy, drawn by a cartoonist".[60]
Tim Curry auditioned for the role of Judge Doom, but was rejected because the producers found him too terrifying.[46]Christopher Lee was also considered for the role, but turned it down.[39]John Cleese also expressed interest for the role, but was deemed not scary enough.[39]Peter O'Toole,F. Murray Abraham,Roddy McDowall, Eddie Deezen andSting were also considered for the role.[39]Christopher Lloyd was cast because he previously worked with Zemeckis and Spielberg onBack to the Future. He compared his part as Doom to his previous role as the Klingon commander Kruge inStar Trek III: The Search for Spock, both overly evil characters which he considered "fun to play".[61] He avoided blinking his eyes while on camera to portray the character.[22]
Lou Hirsch auditioned to play a human character in the film, but ended up providing the voice of Baby Herman instead, which Hirsch described as "a combination ofWallace Beery and his [British] friends imitating [him]".[62] Williams stated that Herman's design was a combination of "Elmer Fudd andTweety crashed together".[21] Fleischer also voiced Benny the Cab, Psycho, and Greasy.Lou Rawls was the original choice for Benny the Cab but was replaced by Fleischer.[53][63]Jim Cummings was originally going to voice some of the weasels.[64][65][66]Joel Silver was cast as Raoul J. Raoul, the frustrated director of the cartoonSomethin's Cookin', as part of a prank aimed at Disney CEOMichael Eisner, who had a strained relationship with Silver. Silver shaved his beard and paid his own expenses to not have his name in initial cast lists. When Eisner learned of Silver's casting as Raoul after production wrapped, he praised the performance.[67]
Mel Blanc reprised his roles as Bugs Bunny,Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, andSylvester the Cat, alternating with his sonNoel Blanc during production.[73] Blanc had intended to voiceYosemite Sam andFoghorn Leghorn, but could not do the voices properly as they had become rough on his vocal chords, thus he was replaced withJoe Alaskey. However, a scene featuring Foghorn was cut from the final version.[74][75] Blanc also could not do Daffy's "woo-hoos" as energetic as he used to, so animator Dave Spafford filled in for him.[19]
Williams provided the voice of Droopy,[76] whom he stated years later was his favorite cartoon character.[77][63] Mary Healey recordedBetty Boop's original lines afterMae Questel had dropped out. However, Healey was replaced by Questel, who was brought back to reprise the role.[78] The toons' singing voices for "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!" in the scene in which Eddie arrives in Toontown were performed by the loop group,[79] with Bill Farmer doing Goofy's singing voice.[16] The song's reprisal at the end of the film was performed by most of the animators, recorded during a wrap party at theBarbican Centre in London.[80][79][81]
Price and Seaman were brought aboard to continue writing the script once Spielberg and Zemeckis were hired. For inspiration, the two writers studied the work ofWalt Disney andWarner Bros. Cartoons from the Golden Age of American animation, especially Tex Avery andBob Clampett cartoons. The Cloverleaf streetcar subplot was inspired byChinatown.[21] Price and Seaman said that "theRed Car plot,suburb expansion,urban andpolitical corruption really did happen". "In Los Angeles, during the 1940s, car and tire companiesteamed up against thePacific Electric Railway system and bought them out of business. Where thefreeway runs in Los Angeles is where the Red Car used to be."[22] In Wolf's novelWho Censored Roger Rabbit?, the toons werecomic-strip characters rather than movie stars.[21]
During the writing process, Price and Seaman were unsure of whom to include as the villain in the plot. They wrote scripts that had either Jessica Rabbit or Baby Herman as the villain, but ultimately chose the newly created character Judge Doom. Doom was supposed to have an animated vulture sit on his shoulder, but this was deleted due to the technical challenges this posed.[22] Doom would also have a suitcase of 12 small, animated kangaroos that act as a jury (a play on "kangaroo court"), by having theirjoeys pop out of their pouches, each with letters, when put together would spell YOU ARE GUILTY. This was also cut for budget and technical reasons.[82]
The Toon Patrol (Stupid, Smart Ass, Greasy, Wheezy, and Psycho) satirizes the Seven Dwarfs (Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey), who appeared inSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Originally seven weasels were to mimic the dwarfs complement, but eventually two of them, Slimey and Sleazy, were written out of the script.[22] The Dwarfs themselves appear briefly in the finished film, in the background after Valiant crashes his car in Toontown. Further references included The Ink and Paint Club resembling theHarlem Cotton Club, while Zemeckis compared Judge Doom's invention of the Dip to eliminate all the toons toHitler'sFinal Solution.[21] Doom was originally the hunter who killedBambi's mother.[82] Benny the Cab was first conceived to be aVolkswagen Beetle before being changed to a taxi cab.[83] The "dueling pianists" scene was originally storyboarded by Williams andChuck Jones (later byJoe Ranft and Mark Kausler[25]), in whichDonald Duck would receive praise from the audience, andDaffy Duck would only gain the attention of crickets chirping; the scene was changed to fit the film's atmosphere.[84] While working on that scene, Dave Spafford snuck in a frame of Daffy using a baby tied up in rope as one of the props with which to play the piano, which was later removed at Williams' insistence.[85] The animators originally did an homage to the originalBetty Boop shorts at Zemeckis' request, having Betty's dress slide down to reveal her bosom in a single frame; this was removed for later home video releases.[86][87] Ideas originally conceived for the story also included a sequence set at Marvin Acme's funeral, whose attendees included Eddie,Foghorn Leghorn,Mickey Mouse,Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck,Goofy, theThree Little Pigs,Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck,Porky andPetunia Pig,Elmer Fudd,Yosemite Sam,Sylvester the Cat,Hippety Hopper,Tom andJerry,Droopy,Tex Avery'sBig Bad Wolf,Heckle and Jeckle,Chip 'n' Dale,Felix the Cat,Herman and Katnip,Mighty Mouse,Superman,Dick Tracy,Popeye,Olive Oyl,Bluto,Clarabelle Cow,Horace Horsecollar, the Seven Dwarfs,Andy Panda,Baby Huey,Casper the Friendly Ghost,Humphrey Bogart, andClark Gable incameo appearances. This scene was cut for pacing reasons at the storyboard stage.[82][30][a] Before finally agreeing onWho Framed Roger Rabbit as the film's title,working titles includedMurder in Toontown,Toons,Dead Toons Don't Pay Bills,The Toontown Trial,Trouble in Toontown, andEddie Goes to Toontown.[93]
Judge Doom (played byChristopher Lloyd) threatens Roger Rabbit before introducing him to the dip.Mime artists,puppeteers,mannequins, androbotic arms were commonly used during filming to help the actors interact with "open air and imaginative cartoon characters".[53]
VistaVision cameras installed withmotion-control technology were used for the photography of the live-action scenes, which would be composited with animation. Rubber mannequins of Roger Rabbit, Baby Herman, and the Toon Patrol portrayed the animated characters during rehearsals to teach the actors where to look when acting with "open air and imaginative cartoon characters".[53][127] Many of the live-action props held by cartoon characters were shot on set with the props either held by robotic arms or manipulated with strings, similar to amarionette.[22][127] For example, a test was shot atIndustrial Light & Magic (ILM) where an actor playing the detective would climb down a fire escape and the rabbit is supposed to follow and he knocks down some stacked boxes. Naturally, there would not be a rabbit during the test, so the camera would go down the fire escape and the boxes would fall when a wire was pulled.[45] Bob Hoskins studied his daughter Rosa playing with her imaginary friends to get the feel of acting with cartoon characters,[128] and performed his own stunts for the film.[129] The actor who provided the voice of Roger, Charles Fleischer, insisted on wearing a Roger Rabbit costume while on the set, to get into character.[53]Principal photography began on December 12, 1986,[130] and lasted for seven and a half months at Elstree Studios, with an additional month in Los Angeles and at ILM forblue screen effects of Toontown.[131] TheDimco Buildings in London were dressed as the fictionalAcme Factory.[132] The entrance ofDesilu Studios in Los Angeles served as the fictional Maroon Cartoon Studio lot.[133] The scene in which a flattened Judge Doom reinflates himself was made usingstop motion animation, done by Tom St. Amand. The puppets were made by Paula Lucchesi and Sheila Duignan.[134][135] The scene in which Roger sees birds instead of stars after a refrigerator falls on him during the shooting of the cartoonSomethin's Cookin' at the beginning of the film was the last scene ever shot.[62]
Post-production lasted for 14 months.[22] ILM had already usedCGI anddigital compositing in a few movies, such as the stained glass knight scene inYoung Sherlock Holmes, but the computers were still not powerful enough to make a complicated movie likeWho Framed Roger Rabbit, so all the animation was done usingcels andoptical compositing.[131][53] First, the animators and layout artists were given black-and-white printouts of the live-action scenes (known as "photostats"), and they placed their animation paper on top of them. The artists then drew the animated characters in relationship to the live-action footage. Due to Zemeckis' dynamic camera moves, the animators had to confront the challenge of ensuring the characters were not "slipping all over the place."[22][53] Ensuring this did not happen and that the characters looked real, Zemeckis and Spielberg met for about an hour and a half and came up with an idea: "If the rabbit sits down in an old chair, dust comes up. He should always be touching something real."[45] After the rough animation was complete, it was run through the normal process of traditional animation until the cels were shot on therostrum camera with no background. Williams came up with the idea of making the cartoon characters "2.5-dimensional", and the animated footage was sent to ILM for compositing, where technicians animated three lighting layers (shadows, highlights, and tone mattes) separately, to give the characters a sense of depth and create the illusion of them affected by the set lighting.[136][53] Finally, the lighting effects were optically composited on to the cartoon characters, who were, in turn, composited into the live-action footage. One of the most difficult effects in the film was Jessica's dress in the nightclub scene because it had to flashsequins, an effect accomplished by filtering light through aplastic bag scratched withsteel wool.[21]
Regular Zemeckis collaboratorAlan Silvestri composed thefilm score, performed by theLondon Symphony Orchestra (LSO) under the direction of Silvestri. Zemeckis joked that "the British [musicians] could not keep up with Silvestri'sjazz tempo". The performances of themusic themes written for Jessica Rabbit were entirelyimprovised by a jazz combo performing with the LSO. The work of American composerCarl Stalling heavily influenced Silvestri's work onWho Framed Roger Rabbit.[22][53] The film's soundtrack was originally released byBuena Vista Records on June 22, 1988, and reissued on CD on April 16, 2002.[137]
The film opened in the United States on June 22, 1988, grossing $11.2 million in 1,045 theaters during its opening weekend; it was in first place at the US box office.[140] It was Disney's biggest opening weekend ever at the time of its release.[141] It went on to gross $154.1 million in the United States and Canada and $197.4 million internationally, coming to a worldwide total of $351.5 million.[142] At the time of release, it was the 20th-highest-grossing film of all time.[143] It was also the second-highest-grossing film of 1988, behind onlyRain Man.[144] In the United Kingdom, the film also set a record opening for a Disney film.[145]
The film was first released onVHS on October 12, 1989,[146] and onDVD on September 28, 1999.
On March 25, 2003,Buena Vista Home Entertainment released it as a part of the "Vista Series" line in a two-disc collection with many extra features including a documentary,Behind the Ears: The True Story of Roger Rabbit; adeleted scene in which a pig's head is "tooned" onto Eddie's; the three Roger Rabbit shorts,Tummy Trouble,Roller Coaster Rabbit, andTrail Mix-Up; as well as a booklet and interactive games. The only short on the 2003 VHS release wasTummy Trouble. The 2003 DVD release is alsoTHX certified and presents the film in Full Screen (1.33:1) on Disc 1 and Widescreen (1.85:1) on Disc 2.[147]
Who Framed Roger Rabbit received near-universal acclaim from critics, makingBusiness Insider's "best comedy movies of all time, according to critics" list.[153] Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 96% based on 76 reviews, and an average rating of 8.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit is an innovative and entertaining film that features a groundbreaking mix of live action and animation, with a touching and original story to boot."[154] AggregatorMetacritic has calculated aweighted average score of 83 out of 100 based on 15 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[155]Who Framed Roger Rabbit was placed on 43 critics' top ten lists, third to onlyThe Thin Blue Line andBull Durham in 1988.[156] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[157]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four, calling it "sheer, enchanted entertainment from the first frame to the last-- a joyous, giddy, goofy celebration of the kind of fun you can have with a movie camera." He writes that the opening cartoon is "a masterpiece; I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard at an animated short. But then when a stunt goes wrong and the cartoon 'baby' stalks off the set and lights a cigar and tells the human director to go to hell, we know we're in a new and special universe."[158]Gene Siskel of theChicago Tribune praised the film's "dazzling, jaw-dropping opening four-minute sequence"; he noted that the sequence alone took nearly nine months to animate.[159] Siskel gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four.[160] Ebert and his colleague Siskel spent a considerable amount of time in theSiskel & Ebert episode in which they reviewed the film analyzing its painstaking filmmaking.[161] In evaluating their top ten films of the year, Siskel ranked it number two[162] while Ebert ranked it as number eight.[163]Janet Maslin ofThe New York Times commented that this is "a film whose best moments are so novel, so deliriously funny and so crazily unexpected that they truly must be seen to be believed."[164]Desson Thomson ofThe Washington Post consideredRoger Rabbit to be "a definitive collaboration of pure talent. Zemeckis had Walt Disney Pictures' enthusiastic backing, producer Steven Spielberg's pull, Warner Bros.'s blessing, Canadian animator Richard Williams' ink and paint,Mel Blanc's voice;Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman's witty, frenetic screenplay;George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic, and Bob Hoskins' comical performance as the burliest, shaggiest private eye."[165]Gene Shalit on theToday Show also praised the film, calling it "one of the most extraordinary movies ever made".[166]Filmsite.org called it "a technically-marvelous film" and a "landmark" that resulted from "unprecedented cooperation" between Warner Bros. and Disney.[167] OnCNN's 2019 miniseriesThe Movies,Tom Hanks called it the "most complicated movie ever made."[168]
Richard Corliss, a film critic forTime magazine, wrote: "The opening scene upstages the movie that emerges from it". Corliss was mainly annoyed by thehomages to theGolden Age of American animation.[169]Chuck Jones criticized the film in his bookChuck Jones Conversations. Among his complaints, Jones accused Zemeckis of robbing Richard Williams of any creative input and ruining the piano duel that both Williams and he had storyboarded.[170]
Who Framed Roger Rabbit marks the first and so far the only time in animation history that Disney'sMickey Mouse andWarner Bros.'Bugs Bunny (as well asDonald Duck andDaffy Duck) have ever officially appeared on-screen together. In order for Disney to use Warner Bros.' characters for the film, both companies came to an agreement in which the screen time for the Warner Bros. characters would be equal to that of the Disney characters.
In December 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United StatesNational Film Registry by theLibrary of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[10]
With the film'sLaserDisc release,Variety first reported in March 1994 that observers uncovered several scenes of antics from the animators that supposedly featured brief nudity of Jessica Rabbit. While undetectable when played at the usual rate of 24film frames per second, the LaserDisc player allowed the viewer to advance frame-by-frame to uncover these visuals. Whether or not they were actually intended to depict the nudity of the character remains unknown.[193][194] Many retailers said that within minutes of the LaserDisc debut, their entire inventory was sold out. The run was fueled by media reports about the controversy, including stories onCNN and various newspapers.[195]
Another frequently debated scene includes one in which Baby Hermanextends his middle finger as he passes under a woman's dress and re-emerges with drool on his lip.[194][196] In the scene whereDaffy Duck andDonald Duck are dueling on pianos, some heard Donald call Daffy a "goddamn stupid nigger", rather than the scripted and recorded line "doggone stubborn little".[197][198][199]
Gary K. Wolf, author of the novelWho Censored Roger Rabbit?, filed a lawsuit in 2001 against The Walt Disney Company. He claimed he was owed royalties based on the value of "gross receipts" and merchandising sales. In 2002, the trial court in the case ruled that these only referred to actual cash receipts Disney collected and denied Wolf's claim. In its January 2004 ruling, the California Court of Appeal disagreed, finding that expert testimony introduced by Wolf regarding the customary use of "gross receipts" in the entertainment business could support a broader reading of the term. The ruling vacated the trial court's order in favor of Disney and remanded the case for further proceedings.[200] In a March 2005 hearing, Wolf estimated he was owed $7 million. Disney's attorneys not only disputed the claim but also said Wolf owed Disney $500,000–$1 million because of an accounting error discovered in preparing for the lawsuit.[201] Wolf won the decision in 2005, receiving between $180,000 and $400,000 in damages.[202]
Spielberg discussed a sequel in 1989 withJ. J. Abrams as writer and Zemeckis as producer. Abrams' outline was eventually abandoned.[203] Nat Mauldin was hired to write a prequel titledRoger Rabbit: The Toon Platoon, set in 1941 to 1943. Similar to the previous film,Toon Platoon featured many cameo appearances by characters fromThe Golden Age of American Animation. It began with Roger Rabbit's early years, living on a farm in the midwestern United States.[186] With human Ritchie Davenport, Roger travels west to seek his mother, in the process meeting Jessica Krupnick (his future wife), a struggling Hollywood actress. While Roger and Ritchie are enlisting in the Army, Jessica is kidnapped and forced to make pro-Nazi German broadcasts. Roger and Ritchie must save her by going intoNazi-occupied Europe accompanied by several other Toons in their Army platoon. After their triumph, Roger and Ritchie are given aHollywood Boulevard parade, and Roger is finally reunited with his mother, and his father,Bugs Bunny.[186][204]
Mauldin later retitled his scriptWho Discovered Roger Rabbit. Spielberg left the project when deciding he could not satirizeNazis after directingSchindler's List.[205][206] Eisner commissioned a rewrite in 1997 withSherri Stoner andDeanna Oliver. Although they kept Roger's search for his mother, Stoner and Oliver replaced the WWII subplot with Roger's inadvertent rise to stardom onBroadway and Hollywood. Disney was impressed andAlan Menken was hired to write five songs for the film and offered his services as executive producer.[206] One of the songs, "This Only Happens in the Movies", was recorded in 2008 on the debut album of Broadway actressKerry Butler.[207]Eric Goldberg was set to be the new animation director, and began to redesign Roger's new character appearance.[206]
Spielberg became busy establishingDreamWorks,[206] so James Pentecost was set to be the producer, collaborating with remaining producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy.[208][206][209] Test footage forWho Discovered Roger Rabbit was shot sometime in 1998 at the Disney animation unit inLake Buena Vista, Florida; the results were a mix ofCGI, traditional animation, and live-action that did not please Disney. A second test had the toons completely converted to CGI.[206] The tests were animated by Tom Bancroft,[209][210][211] Barry Temple,[210][211] Trey Finney, David Nethery, Sherrie Sinclair, James Harris, Teresa Quezada, Jason Peltz, Lon Smart,[210] Eric Guaglione,[209][210][212][213] Rob Bekhurs,[209][210][214] and Guner Behich.[215] The second test was dropped as the film's projected budget would escalate past $100 million. Eisner felt it was best to cancel the film.[206] In March 2003, producerDon Hahn doubted a sequel, arguing that public tastes had changed since the 1990s with the rise of computer animation. "There was something very special about that time when animation was not as much in the forefront as it is now."[216]
In December 2007, Marshall stated that he was still "open" to the idea,[217] and in April 2009, Zemeckis revealed he was still interested.[218] According to a 2009MTV News story, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman were writing a new script for the project, and the animated characters would be in traditional two-dimensional, while the rest would be inmotion capture.[219] In 2010,Bob Hoskins had agreed to sign on for a sequel, but expressed scepticism about the use of "performance capture" in the film.[220] Zemeckis said that the sequel would remain hand-drawn animated and live-action sequences will be filmed, just like in the original film, but the lighting effects on the cartoon characters and some of the props that the toons handle will be done digitally.[221] Also in 2010, Hahn, who was the film's original associate producer, confirmed the sequel's development in an interview withEmpire. He stated, "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."[222] Hoskins retired from acting in 2012 after aParkinson's disease diagnosis a year earlier, and died frompneumonia in 2014.[223] Marshall confirmed that the film would be a prequel, similar to earlier drafts, and that the writing was almost complete.[224] During an interview at the premiere of his filmFlight, Zemeckis stated that the sequel was still possible, despite Hoskins' absence, and the script for the sequel was sent to Disney for approval.[225]
In February 2013, Gary K. Wolf, writer of the original novel, said Erik Von Wodtke and he were working on a development proposal for an animated Disney buddy comedy starring Mickey Mouse and Roger Rabbit calledThe Stooge, based onthe 1952 film of the same name. The proposed film was to be a prequel, taking place five years beforeWho Framed Roger Rabbit and part of the story is about how Roger met Jessica. Wolf has stated the film wending its way through Disney.[226]
In November 2016, while promoting his filmAllied in England, Zemeckis stated that the sequel "moves the story of Roger and Jessica Rabbit into the next few years of period film, moving on from film noir to the world of the 1950s". He also stated that the sequel would feature a "digital Bob Hoskins", as Eddie Valiant would return in "ghost form". While the director went on to state that the script was "terrific" and the film would still use hand-drawn animation, Zemeckis thinks that the chances of Disney green-lighting the sequel are "slim". As he explained more in detail, "The current corporate Disney culture has no interest in Roger, and they certainly don't like Jessica at all".[227] In December 2018, while promoting his filmWelcome to Marwen and given the 30th anniversary ofWho Framed Roger Rabbit, Zemeckis reiterated in an interview withYahoo! Movies that though the sequel's script was "wonderful", Disney was still unlikely to ever produce it, and he did not see the possibility of producing it as an original film for the streaming serviceDisney+, as he felt that it does not make any sense as there was no "Princess" in it.[228] In November 2024, while promoting his latest filmHere, Zemeckis again said that one of the reasons Disney would never produce the script, "as good as it is", was that Disney finds Jessica Rabbit "too hot", citing that they dressed her in atrench coat in theDisneyland attractionRoger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. Zemeckis said that the original film was made at the right time.[229] In 2025, Gary K. Wolf would note in an interview that all the rights to Roger Rabbit and associated characters had returned to him. Wolf stated at the time he was working on a film adaptation of his novelJessica Rabbit: XERIOUS Business.[230]
^The budget has been commonly reported as $70 million, including byThe New York Times in 1991, which subsequently issued anerratum to state that both Amblin and Touchstone insist the budget was "about $50 million".[3] Publications of the film's accounts since then indicate that the exact production cost of the film was $58,166,000,[4] including the production overhead which came to a total of $7,587,000, putting the net cost at $50,587,000.[5]
^Vogel, Harold L. (2010).Entertainment Industry Economics: A Guide for Financial Analysis.Cambridge University Press. p. 208.ISBN978-1-107-00309-5.Production cost: 50,579; Production overhead: 7,587 (Data in $000s)
^abcdeDisneyanaFanClub (August 24, 2011).2011 Disneyana Fan Club Convention Highlight: Voice Panel. YouTube.Archived from the original on August 4, 2016. RetrievedApril 16, 2013.Bill Farmer: Tony Pope voiced Goofy in [Who Framed Roger Rabbit], but I am in that movie as Goofy, because during the time Tony had recorded some scenes as Goofy that never made it in the movie. And so I was actually cast as the voice of Goofy when they finally did the ending scene, where... you know, Goofy had a couple of lines, but they also had [another] scene. I did the ADR group, and so the ending song was "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!" I did that one with Nancy Cartwright and a bunch of other people in the loop group, and one run-through I did it as, (in Goofy's voice) "Smile, darn ya, smile!"
^abcdefghijklRobert Zemeckis, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, Ken Ralston,Frank Marshall, Steve Starkey, DVD audio commentary, 2003, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
^Bee, Alex (May 19, 2024)."Unknown Character in Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Facebook. RetrievedDecember 1, 2025.Nik Ranieri: You couldn't just grab any character from any studio or they'd come out of the wood work after the film was released and sue. All characters had to be checked by legal. They got the rights to [the Fleischer Studios] characters, they'd paid for Betty [Boop] because she had a big part. I think Wiffle Piffle was thrown In because he's a lesser character, but they weren't willing to pay $50,000 for a Koko the Clown walk-on. Apparently the studio that owned Koko [King Features Syndicate] thought he was worth more than he actually was. As far as, how I know, it was info circulating around the studio at the time. That's why they had to go in and change Koko's color and give him hair at the beginning of the film.
^Nathan, Ian (May 1996). "Dreams: Terry Gilliam's Unresolved Projects".Empire. pp. 37–40.
^Shales, Tom (November 25, 1989)."Chuck Jones and the Daffy World of Cartoons".The Washington Post. Archived fromthe original on August 27, 2017. RetrievedOctober 15, 2025.Mainly this guy was frenetic and they were trying to imitate Bob Clampett. Zemeckis believes that the Clampett pictures were the best ever done at Warner Brothers, so he demanded that this be done that way, and Richard Williams -- to his shame, because he's a marvelous animator -- decided he was Bob Zemeckis's pencil. I was supposed to be in on it too, at the beginning, and Dick and I started out with a storyboard and a lot of material with Donald and Daffy Duck playing dual pianos. I thought that was a very funny idea, and an historic idea, but they ended up with something horrible. No, I didn't like it. All that money wasted on that.
^Siskel, Gene (July 3, 1988)."Tooned In".Chicago Tribune. Vol. 142, no. 185. p. 59.Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. RetrievedMarch 23, 2021.
^Siskel, Gene (December 9, 1988)."Siskel's Flicks Picks".Chicago Tribune. Vol. 142, no. 344. p. 179.Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. RetrievedMarch 23, 2021.
^Ebert, Roger (December 31, 1988)."The Best 10 Movies of 1988". Roger Ebert's Journal.Archived from the original on July 25, 2016. RetrievedAugust 3, 2016.
Bonifer, Mike (June 1989).The Art of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. First Glance Books.ISBN0-9622588-0-6.
Foster, Bob (1989).Roger Rabbit: The Resurrection of Doom. Comic book sequel betweenWho Framed Roger Rabbit and the theatrical shortTummy Trouble.Marvel Comics.ISBN0-87135-593-0.
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