Creator of Roger Rabbit Reclaims Rights to Character

On November 11th, 2025, Author Gary K. Wolf reclaimed the rights to Roger Rabbits from Disney after three decades. While I’m sure there was a lot of paper work that went into making the original deal that gave us the iconic adoption of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (which I’ve watched dozens of times), it’s still insane to think about.

Why are these two mutually exclusive? I thought he always owned the rights to his character. No wonder works featuring Roger remained dormant for so long. Winnie the Pooh wasn’t Walt’s baby anymore than Roger Rabbit, so why does Disney get all the custody? I get that it was probably some part contract detail just Star Wars and Marvel today but still. In the world comics, the creator has just freedom over their characters as the person interrupting it for the next generation. Obviously, Disney is a lot stricter but to just let Roger Rabbit lie dormant and out of the hands of the creator for much of the 2000s onward is a bit of dick move.

It could (and most likely is) just the system is itself. Which isn’t any better even with the reclaim ability.