Search form

Watch ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’ Return to Celebrate ‘Disney 100 Years of Wonder’

Created by Disney Animation’s storied hand-drawn animation team, the studio’s first breakout animated star is back in a new short, after a 94-year hiatus, marking the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company.

After 94 years, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Oswald the Lucky Rabbit returns to the screen in an all-new animated short, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, available on the studio’s YouTube channel, or watch it here below. Created by Disney Animation’s hand-drawn animation team in celebration of “Disney 100 Years of Wonder,” the short marks the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company. Directed by famed animator Eric Goldberg (How To Stay At Home - starring Goofy, Pocahontas, Fantasia/2000) and produced by Emmy Award winner Dorothy McKim (Prep & Landing, Get A Horse!, Meet The Robinsons).

“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,” shared McKim. “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.”

“Oswald is such a plucky scamp,” added Goldberg. “We wanted to bring Oswald back, and in the short, he literally returns to his original home, the movie screen. We wanted to have Oswald do all of the ‘squash-and-stretch,’ ‘rubber hose’-animation style, celebrating that first generation of Walt Disney’s artists.”

Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit, is considered Walt Disney’s first breakout animated star and widely considered one of the first characters in animation history to feature a unique personality. Oswald was first introduced to moviegoers in 1927 with the short Trolley Troubles. Walt Disney and his team created 26 Oswald short films, with the final Disney shorts starring the character released in late summer 1928, the same year Walt lost creative control over his beloved rabbit. In 2006, Disney CEO Bob Iger made a deal with NBC/Universal that permitted sportscaster Al Michaels to contract with NBC in exchange for returning Oswald to his original home. Since then, Oswald has appeared in video games and merchandise, an animated short, and in Disney theme parks globally.

In conjunction with the animated short, Disney is launching an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Snapchat lens, allowing users to channel Oswald using AR technology.

Source: Walt Disney Animation Studios

Debbie Diamond Sarto's picture

Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.