Movies that should have had sequels

Quote: Pacomartin

Who Framed Roger Rabbit made more than double it's production budget in domestic and 2.5X in foreign sales. Normally that would result in a sequel. Bur Robert Zemeckis (the director was super hot with Back to the Future sequels) and showed no interest in doing a sequel, nor did Bob Hoskins.

Quote: rxwine

I believe animation production has become much more slick/refined since Roger Rabbit because of computer software. They were blending animation into live action which is probably more complex anyway.

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In reality, Roger Rabbit is one of those movies that today could never be made. And even at the time, it seems impossible that Who Framed Roger Rabbit did get made. It was a complicated production, both technically and in terms of the multiple properties that would need to be licensed to achieve the authenticity of the story, using real cartoon characters from history. The film was beset by problems, not just issues with licensing. Spielberg was instrumental in the licensing negotiations, however. Working closely with studios such as Warner Bros. Fleischer Studios, Felix the Cat Productions, Turner Entertainment, and Universal Pictures, Spielberg’s name and smooth negotiating convinced the separate studios to “lend” their characters to the production at an unbelievable flat rate of $5000 per character. That was it. No backends, no residuals, just a one-time flat fee and some good will. And, a few additional stipulations on behalf of the studios for some of their major properties. For instance, Warner Bros. stipulated that their characters such as Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny must receive equal screen time, dialogue, and billing as Disney’s Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. Spielberg’s feat was unparalleled in Hollywood business history, and he was rewarded well for his efforts, his contract included extensive creative control and a large percentage of the box office profits. Disney maintained merchandising rights, of course.

The film’s production was notoriously over-budget and over-schedule. Disney balked at the originally projected $50 million production and greenlit the film with a $29.9 million budget – even at that cost it was the most expensive animated film ever greenlit. During production, when the budget had escalated past $40 million, Disney’s President at the time, Michael Eisner, nearly shut down production. Jeffrey Katzenberg (now head of Dreamworks Animation) was in charge of Disney Animation at the time and was responsible for talking Eisner out of shuttering production. Spielberg’s draw was said to have helped assuage him as well. Katzenberg argued at the time that hybrid live-action plus animation would save Disney Animation’s ailing, pre-renaissance department.

Post production lasted an additional 14 months, with one of the biggest challenges being rotoscoping all the live action sequences (drawing animation cells over all the live action footage). This proved even more challenging than the technique would otherwise be because of Zemeckis use of dynamic camera movements and the large amount of action shots. ILM also added to the process by completing three lighting layers that were optically printed onto the animation (adding dimensionality), subjecting the characters to the same lighting that already existed in the filmed live-action sequences.

As anyone who’s seen the film knows, it’s tone is quite dark. Though it plays for children, the darker elements, sexual innuendo, drinking, guns, and violence, aren’t the typical fodder for children’s animation. Given the dark nature of the film, and Zemeckis (with Spielberg’s support) unwillingness to adjust the tone, Disney opted to release the film through its Touchstone Pictures banner on June 22nd, 1988. It opened to $11.2 million on only 1,045 screens, going on to earn $156.5 million domestically and an additional $173.25 internationally. Who Framed Roger Rabbit was the second highest grosser of 1988 behind Rain Man.
Zemeckis, of course, would continue to embark throughout his career on technical advancement and experimentation. Not only with the mixing of live-action and animation, but he has also been one of the instrumental directors pushing forward the advancement of performance capture CGI and 3D, with films such as Forrest Gump, The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol. His desire to continually blur the lines between animation and reality has, in fact, become a career-long venture. And, of course, a lot of it began with Roger Rabbit.

Technically, the film was quite the achievement as well. The production utilized VistaVision cameras, a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35mm format, some of the same techniques used in VistaVision eventually evolved into 70mm IMAX formats. The cameras were also equipped with motion control technology, allowing for scenes to be shot with the same movements and focal lengths multiple times. On set, rubber mannequins stood in for main cartoon characters to establish sight-lines and give the actors something to act against. However, the voice of Roger Rabbit, Charles Fleischer, insisted on wearing a Roger costume on set and acting out his lines off-camera. Filming, which began on December 2nd, 1986 lasted seven months, with an additional month in LA at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for the necessary blue-screen Toontown effects.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a rare culmination of business practices, technological achievement, and innovative storytelling. The ridiculously expensive, ultimately $70 million budget, film would go to become a massive grosser, while also winning four Academy Awards, including Best Film Editing, Best Effects (Visual) and Best Effects (Sound Editing), in addition to a Special Achievement Award for animation direction by Richard Williams. The film also received nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Sound. But what the film achieved then is perhaps inconceivable to this day, with the exception of Disney’s recent, Wreck-It Ralph, which perhaps utilized Roger as a template for the teaming of its multiple company gaming properties. But to this day, Roger Rabbit stands as a marvel of studio cooperation, and animation innovation. While the film has aged, the marvel is how easily it can still be enjoyed by all ages.

Quote: rxwine

This is what I found:

Quote: Nareed

I don't recall where I heard this joke: A sequel of "Gone with the Wind" would start with Rhett telling Scarlet, "You know, my dear, perhaps I do give a damn after all."

Quote: pew

District 9 should have had a sequel. I thought it was made for one. Wrath of khan...wait, never mind.