While it’s tempting to only associate Jon Favreau with Star Wars these days—he created The Mandalorian for Disney+ and will soon helm the franchise’s much-anticipated theatrical return, The Mandalorian and Grogu—he has a long history with Disney, having directed and co-starred in multiple Marvel movies as well as directing 2019 box-office giant The Lion King. So it’s not too surprising to hear he’s got another House of Mouse project in the works, though its offbeat subject matter is a bit unexpected: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
As Deadline reports, Favreau will tap into both his live-action and photorealistic-animation directing skills for the prospective Disney+ series, which will be a hybrid of both styles, and that he’ll write and produce. If Oswald looks a little familiar—basically, he’s Mickey Mouse with bunny ears and tail—the trade confirms that’s a big part of his real-life backstory: “Oswald was created in 1927 by Walt Disney and featured in 27 animated shorts. But after Universal took control of the character in 1928, Disney created a new character as a replacement: Mickey Mouse.”
A new but vintage-style Oswald short was released in 2022 in honor of the company’s 100th anniversary; it was touted on Walt Disney Animation’s YouTube as being the first hand-drawn, Oswald-starring short “in nearly 95 years.” Deadline notes that Oswald’s comeback has been in the works for some time, calling it “a priority for Disney CEO Bob Iger” and noting that the Walt Disney Co. acquired the trademark in 2006.
With Favreau aboard, it feels like Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is about to see some of that luck pay new dividends. What do you think about Favreau’s foray into Disney+ series beyond the realm of Star Wars?
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