A long-lost Disney animated short film and character, thought to be Mickey Mouse's "brother," has been found. The lost animated movie was found in a library in Norway.

Just in time for the holiday season, Disney's long-lost Christmas animated short film "Empty Socks," a 1927 cartoon, was discovered this week in northern Norway, in the country's National Library. "Empty Socks" was Disney's first animated Christmas film which introduced people to the character Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald's journey has been a long and fruitful history.

The Lucky Rabbit character was brought to life in animation one year before Mickey Mouse in 1928.  

Taking inventory was the key to the discovery of this long-lost film. During an inventory check of Norway's library facility, in Mo i Rana near the Arctic circle, "Empty Socks" was found. The library archivists did not know what it was at first, Yahoo! Movies reported.

"At the beginning, we didn't know it was a lost cinematographic treasure," Kvale Soerenssen said via a statement. Soernessen is an archivist at the library. "The film was in two reels which weren't clearly labeled,"  Soernessen said, Yahoo! Movies reported.

The original version of "Empty Socks" is still missing something. The film runs for five minutes and 30 seconds, however, between 30 and 60 seconds from the middle part, there is footage missing, Yahoo! Movies reported. "Empty Socks" was authenticated by Disney cartoonist David Gerstein.

Nevertheless, some would argue that Disney is happy with finding the missing footage. "Empty Socks" starred Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit, who appeared in 26 movies by Walt Disney and his countryman Ub Iwerks, Yahoo! Movies reported. The National Library of Norway has already digitized the short and sent a copy to the Walt Disney Company.

This is a huge find. All that ever existed before this was a 25-second sequence of "Empty Socks" preserved at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Yahoo! Movies reported.

Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit, and Mickey Mouse were regarded as Walt Disney's children. Two years after the release of "Empty Socks" in 1927, Disney had allowed the Oswald character and its rights to stay with Universal, MoviePilot reported. Some suggest that Oswald's time with Universal is the reason why most people have not seen him.

Oswald's luck had paid off. "Empty Socks" was released in 1927, but it took nearly 80 years to see Lucky Rabbit again. In 2006, Disney regained the rights to "Empty Socks" once more, and Oswald along with it, MoviePilot reported.

Disney attempted the film technique that was used to create "Empty Socks" again in 1946 but released it in 2003. During 1946, Disney animators created and completed an almost forgotten project titled "Destino." Surrealist artist Salvador Dali was part of the project, MoviePilot reported. The project came to an abrupt halt, but you can find the footage of it below this article.

Films like "Destino" and "Empty Socks" were easily destroyed and degraded due its flammable and unstable materials. "Empty Socks" is indeed the lucky one that survived. A Norwegian film company that owned "Empty Socks" had belonged to a private individual before ending up in the collection of the Norwegian Film Institute, Yahoo! Movies reported. The collection was then handed over to Norway's National Library.

The majority of the library's works and documents are kept in a high security bunker in Mo i Rana. The film, with its flammable and unstable materials, was stored in a room with controlled temperature and humidity, Yahoo! Movies reported. These conditions prevented it from damage.

The National Library of Norway is now working on a large digitization project that could make its works more accessible. This could help to discover further lost documents.

You can click here to see the "Destino" film project.