Disney Traded an NFL Legend for a Cartoon Rabbit
In 2006, Disney made one of the strangest trades in entertainment history: legendary sportscaster Al Michaels went to NBC, while Disney regained the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character Walt Disney had lost nearly 80 years earlier. Now that unusual deal is becoming relevant again. Oswald is returning in a new three-part Disney+ series written and directed by Jon Favreau, bringing Walt Disney’s pre-Mickey creation into a live-action and animation hybrid. In this episode of Disney Newspaper, we trace Oswald’s story from his creation in 1927 and Walt Disney’s devastating loss of the character, through Bob Iger’s effort to bring him home, and finally to Disney’s plans to turn one of its oldest characters into a modern streaming experiment. We also look at the bigger question: Was bringing Oswald home simply about nostalgia, or did Disney see long-term value in reclaiming a critical piece of its own history? And perhaps the biggest question of all: If Walt Disney had never lost Oswald, would Mickey Mouse ever have existed?
