Aman! Just 24 hours after Disney’s original copyright for Mickey Mouse expired, two new indie horror films starring the beloved character have been announced.
“Steamboat Willie,” the first Disney film to feature Mickey, entered the public domain under US law on Monday, 95 years after its original release.
This means that anyone is now free to copy, share, reuse and adapt the primitive, early versions of the characters that appear in the film, including Mickey and his girlfriend Minnie.
Despite Disney’s warnings that it would seek to protect its most iconic character, opportunistic filmmakers were expected to quickly announce their own unofficial remakes and adaptations — and they didn’t disappoint.
“Mickey’s Mouse Trap” will feature a masked killer dressed as Mickey stalking a group of young friends through an amusement arcade, while another untitled horror comedy sees a sadistic mouse torment unsuspecting ferry passengers.
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“We just wanted to have fun with it all,” “Mickey’s Mouse Trap” director Jamie Bailey said in a trailer posted on YouTube.
“I mean, Steamboat Willie’s Mickey Mouse murders people. It’s ridiculous. We ran with him and had fun doing it and I think it shows.”
The low-budget horror comedy is slated for a March release.
Meanwhile, director Steven LaMorte — known for “The Mean One,” a 2022 slasher romp inspired by The Grinch — is working on his own “twisted take” on Mickey.
“‘Steamboat Willie’ has brought joy to generations, but beneath that cheerful exterior lies a potential for pure, unadulterated terror,” he said in a press release.
Production on the untitled film is expected to begin this spring.
Both projects are reminiscent of “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey,” a low-budget slasher film that made headlines last year after the copyright on the first AA Milne books expired.
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Analysts say Disney will be watching closely and is likely to send in lawyers if anyone goes overboard.
Only the older, black-and-white version of Mickey is public — not the colorful character from later Disney films like “Fantasia.”
And trademark protections mean that any movie or product that could mislead consumers into thinking it was made by Disney could be liable.
“We will, of course, continue to protect our rights to the most up-to-date versions of Mickey Mouse and other copyrighted works and work to protect against consumer confusion caused by unauthorized uses of Mickey and other iconic characters us,” a Disney statement said.
But LaMorte told Variety he wasn’t worried.
“We’re doing our due diligence to make sure there’s no doubt or confusion about what we’re doing,” he said.
“This is our version of a public domain character.”
Source: AFP