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Bob Iger (CEO de Disney), hizo trueque con Universal, ellos les dan parte de ESPN a cambio del personaje y cortos de Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (creado por Walt Disney antes de Mickey Mouse)

Parece que el trato va bien, son excelentes noticias para que estos cortos por fin sean vistos en DVD (quizás por medio de un Walt Disney Treasure)

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esto publicó mercurynews:

Cita:Al Michaels deal reunites Disney with original animated character
GARY GENTILE
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - In exchange for allowing sportscaster Al Michaels to leave ABC early for a job at NBC Universal, The Walt Disney Co. is getting back a piece of its history - the first animated character created by Disney and the forerunner to Mickey Mouse.

His name was "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit," and the cheeky bunny was created by Disney and his chief creative partner, Ub Iwerks, in 1927 at the request of Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Pictures.

Before Oswald, Disney and Iwerks had made a series of animated and live action shorts based on "Alice in Wonderland." The films were distributed by Charles Mintz.

Disney cranked out 26 of the silent Oswald cartoons. The character proved popular and soon began appearing on merchandise.

In 1928, Disney traveled to New York to negotiate a renewal of the contract to produce the Oswald series.

Mintz balked at paying more for the series and instead suggested that Disney fold up shop and come to work for him.

Disney refused. But what he didn't know was that Mintz had secretly hired away most of Disney's key animators - except Iwerks. Universal owned the rights to Oswald and would continue to create cartoons without Disney.

The result, while devastating to Disney at the time, was historic.

Legend has it that on the train ride back to Los Angeles, Disney decided his next character would be a mouse named Mortimer. His wife, Lillian, suggested he change the name to Mickey.

But according to animation historians and Leslie Iwerks, Ub's granddaughter who wrote a book about Ub titled "The Hand Behind the Mouse," what most likely happened is that on his return to Los Angeles, Walt and Ub huddled, considered various options, then settled on a mouse, whose name Lillian Disney indeed suggested.

Iwerks created two silent films featuring Mickey, which, not surprisingly, looked a lot like Oswald with shorter ears. The third cartoon was made with a soundtrack and marked Mickey's big screen debut - "Steamboat Willie."

"It was not just a crucial turning point for Walt Disney, but for popular culture," film critic and historian Leonard Maltin said Thursday.

"If he hadn't been forced to create a new character, who knows what we'd be seeing on all those T-shirts and wristwatches today."

Universal continued to make Oswald films from 1929 to 1938. One of the earliest voices for the character was actor Mickey Rooney.

Oswald also continued to appear in a comic book from 1943 to 1962.

In the deal announced Thursday, Disney will get the rights to the Oswald character plus all 26 shorts created by Disney. The deal, which also includes some sports content, does not includes the films and other products produced by Universal. Disney has not said what it will do with the cartoons, but a DVD release is likely.

"When Bob (Disney president and CEO Robert Iger) was named CEO, he told me he wanted to bring Oswald back to Disney, and I appreciate that he is a man of his word," Walt Disney's daughter Diane Disney Miller said in a statement Thursday. "Having Oswald around again is going to be a lot of fun."

para los fans de la animación clásica, es una excelente noticia... no dudo que en 2007 tengamos un Walt Disney Treasure con este personaje

Excelentes noticias, se me hace algo bastante estúpido de parte de Universal, pero que más da... el conejito regresó a casa después de tantos años...

Igual, me imagino que saldrá un Disney Treasures, pero... ¿26 cortos no son pocos para llenar un Disney Treasures? Tendrán que meterle alo más...

Por ahí leí que este personaje lo manejaba Walter Lantz, habrá interactuado alguna vez con Woody?

Encontré 3 diseños distintos:




Que el segundo diseño (fondo café) no había salido en un corto muy chido de Silly Symphonies de unos conejos en una fábrica?

Vicco escribió:Excelentes noticias, se me hace algo bastante estúpido de parte de Universal, pero que más da... el conejito regresó a casa después de tantos años...

Igual, me imagino que saldrá un Disney Treasures, pero... ¿26 cortos no son pocos para llenar un Disney Treasures? Tendrán que meterle alo más...

El de "Complete Pluto" trae solo veintitantos cortos, así que no es raro que sacaran un Treasure con solo los 26 cortos de Oswald

Sobre lo que preguntas de Oswald/Woody, no hasta donde yo sé... de hecho Walter Lantz retiró a Oswald cuando empezó a producir a Andy Panda...

Ahora, Lantz produjo bastantes cortos de Oswald, y esos no fueron adquiridos por Disney... que va a hacer con ellos Universal? ya no los va a poder lanzar en DVD* ya que los derechos del personaje fueron cedidos a Disney... que idiotas, va a pasar lo mismo que Popeye (y obviamente a Disney no le interesa en lo más mínimo adquirir el trabajo de Lantz, él nunca trabajó en Disney)

*Ahora que lo pienso, Universal jamás ha demostrado ningún interes de explotar sus bienes animados, salvo las mugres de "La historia antes del tiempo 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10...n, incluso algunos DVDs de Woody no fueron lanzados a público en general, y para colmo estaban censurados, así que no creo que esta situación se llegue a dar