It’d be tough to find two animated characters more iconic and with greater legacies thanMickey MouseandBugs Bunny, and even though they’re owned by different studios, both anthropomorphized animals have appeared in the same project - but only once. As well as both having equally recognizable designs, Mickey and Bugs both haveiconic cartoon character voices. While some ofBugs Bunny’s funniest cartoonsthrough the decades have revolved solely around him, he was lucky enough to team up with another legendary character in 1988 for an inter-studio event for the ages.
Mickey Mouse is Walt Disney’s most recognizable characterand is somewhat of a mascot for the entire brand. Similarly, Bugs Bunny fills a similar role when it comes to Warner Bros. animations. The rivalry between the two studios would suggest a crossover would be impossible. However, both parties came to an incredibly rare agreement in 1988, which led to a seminal moment in cinematic history. The difficulty in coordinating the collaboration is clearly reflected by the simple fact it hasn’t happened again since.
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Mickey Mouse & Bugs Bunny Were Both In 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Warner Bros. allowed their animated mascot to appear in a movie produced by Disney
Gary K. Wolf’s 1981Who Censored Roger Rabbitnovel served as the basis for the 1988 movie of a similar name. The source material was used as a loose jumping-off point for the adaptation, although the basic premise of the story remains the same in both versions. WhileWolf’s book doesn’t feature any licensed characters from established studios, it does still have the intermingling of cartoon and human characters. Disney took the concept one step further by using recognizable animated characters to populate the movie’s world. Included in these figures were Mickey Mouse, and Warner Bros' Bugs Bunny.
Mickey Mouse was voiced by Wayne Allwine inRoger Rabbit, who was the third actor to voice the character. Bugs Bunny was voiced by the character’s original actor, Mel Blanc.
Disney’s use of Bugs Bunny inRoger Rabbitdidn’t come easily, nor was it free. Because Warner Bros. owns the character, Disney was required to pay a fee to borrow the character from the studio’s competitor. Becauseneither Mickey nor Bugs were integral to the movie’s narrative, they didn’t appear often or for very long. However, their most prominent moment was a 30-second sequence with Bob Hoskins' Eddie Valiant. Overall, the presence of both characters acted mostly as window dressing, adding bells and whistles to the movie’s meta worldbuilding. Regardless, the fact they appear together at all is very cool.
Disney’s mascot wasn’t allowed to overshadow Bugs Bunny
As well as requiring payment for the use of Bugs Bunny,Warner Bros. had another rule they wanted to impose upon the productionbefore an agreement was finalized. In short, if Mickey Mouse was on the screen, then Bugs Bunny had to be there at the same time. Without this context, it’s difficult to spot anything unusual about the coming together of the two characters - despite the fact it’s a one-off occurrence. However, watching the movie with this piece of information makes it easy to spot the amount of effort that went into the two characters appearing as equals.
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Mickey and Bugs weren’t the only Disney/Warner Bros. characters to undergo similar restrictions. During Eddie Valiant’s visit to the Ink and Paint Club, the entertainment is provided by two famous animated ducks in the throes of a piano battle. BecauseWarner Bros. deemed their character of Daffy Duck to be Donald Duck’s inter-studio counterpart, Warner Bros. put forward the condition of them sharing the same amount of screen time. This is what happened. Interestingly, while there’s no clear winner in said musical showdown, Donald Duck lands the final blow, which may have been an intentionally sneaky move by Disney.
Bugs Bunny Wasn’t The Only Warner Bros. Animated Character To Appear In Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Because Disney was one of two production companies behindRoger Rabbit- the other being Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment - Disney characters had the most cameos of any studio involved in the collaboration. However, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were not the only Warner Bros. characters to appear in the groundbreaking project. Some only had a line or two, and others were relegated to background characters. Interestingly, some items, like the Portable Holes and the huge magnet, were also from Warner Bros. cartoons. In short,Roger Rabbitcontained both famous and obscure Warner Bros. cameos- some of which can be found below.
It would be reasonable to assume thatDisney had to gain explicit permission for the use of each individual Warner Bros. character, and their presence in the movie may even have come with specific instructions. What’s unlikely is that said instructions would have been quite as strict as they were for much bigger Warner Bros. characters like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. The nature of the movie and the sheer number of cameos would have made it impossible to spend too much time with every character, regardless of which studio they ultimately belonged to.
Other prominent animated characters who made their onscreen debut inWho Framed Roger Rabbitinclude Jessica Rabbit, Benny the Cab, and the four weasels in the Toon Patrol.
Who Framed Roger Rabbitdidn’t solely rely on established characters. In fact, the movie’s title character was taken directly from the pages of the 1981 book on which the adaptation was based. Roger Rabbit had the biggest role of all the animated characters in the movie. Other prominent animated characters who made their onscreen debut inWho Framed Roger Rabbitinclude Jessica Rabbit, Benny the Cab, and the four weasels in the Toon Patrol.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit Remains The Most Impressive Inter-Studio Collaboration To Date
There will probably never be another team-up as extensive as Who Framed Roger Rabbit
The Disney/Warner Bros. collaboration is a landmark occasion on its own, butWho Framed Roger Rabbitalso included animated characters from other studios. MGM Cartoons, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Universal Pictures, create an incomplete list of studios that allowed their characters to be used in the massive crossover event. This means other animated superstars like Woody Woodpecker, Betty Boop, and Droopy Dog all had cameos to varying degrees in the 1988 movie. Many more characters other than those who appeared had planned cameos, but legal rights and production limitations ultimately meant they had to be omitted.
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Of course, many crossovers have happened since 1988, and some have involved unaffiliated studios. What makes many of them relatively unremarkable is the lack of legal boundaries to stop the crossover from happening. In other words, the properties that collide are often owned by the same studio, and it’s incredibly rare that more than two franchises come together. Therefore,a production likeWho Framed Roger Rabbitis unlikely to ever happen again, due to the difficulty and coordination it took to make the original movie possible. At leastMickey MouseandBugs Bunnyhad at least one run-in.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Cast
Who Framed Roger Rabbit combines live-action and animation to create a world where humans and cartoon characters coexist. Set in 1940s Hollywood, the film follows a private investigator who is contracted to work on the case of a cartoon framed for murder, despite his dislike of cartoons. Bob Hoskins, Charles Fleischer, Christopher Lloyd, and Kathleen Turner all star.
