Disney's Oswald The Lucky Rabbit Returns After 95 Years For A New Short Film
As Disney prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its joyful iron grip on the entertainment industry, it's a safe guess to say we're all in store for some blasts from the past. While the form this celebration will take is yet unclear, it appears one of the first things that's happening is a throwback to one of Disney's original and most forgotten stars.
We all know Mickey Mouse, the smiling and shirtless rodent at the head of Disney's empire. For probably your entire lifetime, you've known Mickey as the most famous of the cartoon mascots. His presence and likeness is ubiquitous in Disney branding, theme parks, and media. When it comes to a mouse who's become as recognizable as the Coca-Cola logo, most people probably assume that he's always been Disney's top guy. But that is not the case.
Before a young Mickey burst onto the scene in 1928 in the short film "Steamboat Willie," Walt Disney had another cartoon ready to take the animation world by storm: a certain Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald, who starred in 27 animated short films between 1927 and 1938, was Walt Disney's first foray into what is called "personality animation," the idea that cartoon characters should be characterized not only by their appearances, but by their personalities and actions. "I want the characters to be somebody," said Disney at the time. "I don't want them just to be a drawing." Oswald was a young, peppy, and adventurous figure, lending himself well to animated hijinks.
But as often happens in Hollywood, Oswald simply did not make it. Mickey Mouse's star soared while his faded into obscurity. Until now. For Disney's 100th anniversary, Oswald is coming back for a brand new short.
Old-timers day
The announcement of the return of Disney's prodigal son is one of the studio's first efforts to celebrate their centennial. It makes sense that they would do so by throwing back to one of their oldest properties, one that's mostly forgotten save for the biggest Disney fanatics around.
"On the eve of Disney's 100th anniversary, it was such a joy to create the first new Oswald short from our studio since 1928," said Dorothy McKim, the short's producer, on the Disney website. "Our hand-drawn animation team—including our hand-drawn legends Mark Henn, Randy Haycock, and Eric Goldberg, as well our wonderful team of 2D apprentices—had a ball animating in the style of Oswald's era."
With an almost century-long hiatus since his last film with Disney, you've got to imagine Oswald's return was nerve wracking for the guy. But thanks to the great work of the animators, who were able to perfectly recapture the vibe of cartoons from Oswald's era, the old boy looked great in the one-minute short Disney posted on their Youtube channel. He looks like he hasn't aged a day, and his signature personality remains intact.
But the short film return of Oswald doesn't just signify a remembrance of Disney's storied past. It also shows how far the company has come.
A hard-fought battle
Oswald was originally created to be sold to Universal Studios, as producer Christopher Mintz knew they were trying to get into the animation business. Mintz hired Walt Disney and his team to create the character and signed a deal with Universal to make 26 cartoons starring the lucky rabbit. The series was a massive success, allowing Walt Disney's small studio to balloon in size. When the original contract came to its end, Mintz and Disney could not reach an agreement, and parted ways, with Mintz and Universal retaining rights to the use of Oswald.
Universal would hold the rights to Oswald, a direct creation of Walt Disney himself, for almost 80 years. This was until 2006, when Disney CEO Bob Iger negotiated a trade with Universal that involved trading a variety of assets, including sports commentator Al Michaels, to Universal in exchange for the rights to Oswald the Lucky Cat, who Universal executives didn't even know existed.
With a classic Disney creation finally back where he belonged, Oswald would re-debut in the 2010 video game "Epic Mickey," and has made a variety of cameo appearances in Disney projects since. Oswald is now back in the Disney canon, where he belongs, a sign that even the studio's early failures can be redeemed by its overall success.
With Disney already reaching deep into their catalog for retired characters that only the real old heads will remember, like Oswald and Bob Iger, it's exciting to speculate what the upcoming year of celebration will hold.