Adjusting for inflation, that's about $3,600 in 2022. While he was away at war, and before the children's book was released, Joe Oriolo sold off the rights to Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios animation division for a whopping $175. World War II began, and Seymour Reit went off to serve time in what was known then as the United States Army Air Force, where he was stationed on the West Coast to defend from a Japanese invasion. In the late 1930s, author Seymour Reit created the character, and cartoon animator Joe Oriolo illustrated it. The Invention of Casper the Friendly GhostĬasper made his first animated appearance in 1945, but he was initially formed as an idea for a children's book. Now, imagine that you didn't see any of that money because you sold your character idea off for $175. But imagine that you came up with, you invented, your own character that made that much money from a single 90-minute movie. The entire Casper franchise has countless entries with cartoons, movies, books, video games, toys, costumes, licensing, merchandise, and spin-offs (like Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost) the list goes on and on. That's an unfathomable number for most people-and that's just one film. Also, the first film to feature a CGI character in a lead role.Īt last count, the film has earned nearly $288 million worldwide.
