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Mickey Mouse horror films announced as copyright expires

By on January 3, 2024

 

Never-before-seen indie horror-comedy film trailer featuring children’s beloved Disney character Mickey Mouse was unveiled a day after Disney’s initial copyright on Mickey Mouse expired.

Steamboat Willie, released and produced by Disney in 1928 as a black and white short film featuring Mickey and Minnie, entered the public domain under US law on January 1st, 95 years on from its initial release.

That means anyone is now free to copy, share, reuse and adapt the early versions of the characters that appear within the film, including Mickey and Minnie.

Mickey’s Mouse Trap features 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 tormenting unsuspecting ferry passengers.

“We just wanted to have fun with it all,” said Mickey’s Mouse Trap director Jamie Bailey, in a trailer posted on YouTube.

“I mean it’s Steamboat Willie’s Mickey Mouse murdering people. It’s ridiculous. We ran with it and had fun doing it and I think it shows.”

The low-budget horror-comedy is expected to launch in March.

Meanwhile filmmaker 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, unhinged terror,” he said in a press release.

Production on the untitled film is due to begin this spring.
Both projects are reminiscent of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, a micro-budget slasher film that drew headlines last year after the copyright on the first A.A. Milne books expired.

Only the earliest, black-and-white version of Mickey is in the public domain — not the colorful character from later Disney films like Fantasia.

 

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