Mickey Mouse Horror Film Unveiled As Copyright Ends

It’s Mickey, but not as you’ve ever known him.

On January 1, when Disney’s copyright on the first iterations of the cartoon character expired in the United States, a trailer for a horror flick starring a masked murderer dressed as Mickey Mouse was published.

“We wanted the polar opposite of what exists,” claimed the film’s producer.

A new Mickey-inspired horror game featuring a rodent covered in blood spots was released on the same day.

Steamboat Willie, a 1928 short film featuring early non-speaking incarnations of Mickey and Minnie, was released into the public domain in the United States on January 1.

Mickey Mouse Horror Film Unveiled As Copyright Ends

Cartoonists, writers, and filmmakers can now modify and use the original Mickey and Minnie characters.

Anyone can use those versions without asking for permission or paying a fee.

Creatives were eager to capitalize on the new laws, with a trailer (containing violent scenes) for a Mickey horror flick being released on the same day.

A young woman is surprised with a surprise birthday party in an amusement arcade in Mickey’s Mouse Trap, but things quickly go wrong when she and her pals face a knife-wielding murderer dressed as Mickey.

“A place for fun, for friends, and for hunting.” “The mouse has escaped,” the trailer proclaims in red letters.

“People shouldn’t take it too seriously; we made a ridiculously fun movie,” said Simon Phillips, who wrote, produced, and played the man behind the Mickey mask in the film.

Mr Phillips told the BBC that “putting Mickey in a family movie doesn’t cover new ground.”

Mickey Mouse Horror Film Unveiled As Copyright Ends

“In order to flip the coin, you have to come up with something that’s the polar opposite of what already exists,” he explained.

The film’s release date has yet to be determined, but it is believed to be in March.

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Not to be outdone, a new video game starring the 1928 version of Mickey has been released.

According to Nightmare Forge Games, Infestation 88 is a survival horror game in which a vermin infestation transforms into something more evil.

At the trailer’s beginning, a man can be heard fearfully saying, “I thought it was just rodents, but there’s something else in here.”
A massive, blood-splattered Mickey then appears on screen, surrounded by mice.

Mickey Mouse Horror Film Unveiled As Copyright Ends

According to a representative at Nightmare Forge Games, Steamboat Willie’s entry into the public domain “allowed us to include our own derivation of the film’s starring character in our game, which fits perfectly as an antagonist causing an infestation.”

The mouse is hardly the first kid character to be adapted into a horror film.

When Winnie the Pooh became public domain, the endearing bear was adapted into the R-rated horror thriller Blood and Honey, one of the year’s lowest-rated films.

According to US copyright law, characters’ rights can be kept for 95 years, implying that Steamboat Willie’s characters entered the public domain on January 1, 2024.

In the past, Disney was threatened with losing the rights to its original cartoons.

The characters were supposed to enter the public domain in 1984, but Congress extended the duration by another 20 years.

Another 20-year extension was authorized before the next expiry date in 2004.

Because of Disney’s efforts to safeguard its characters, the bill has been called “the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.” But the moment arrived, and it was hailed as “deeply symbolic” by experts.

The corporation maintains a distinct trademark on the mouse as a brand identity and corporate mascot. That means the public can still utilize these photographs in limited ways.

And, according to Disney, more current renditions of Mickey are still protected by copyright.

“We will, of course, continue to protect our rights in the more modern versions of Mouse and other works that remain subject to copyright,” the business said in a statement.

SOURCE – BBC