One of the most ICONIC figures in the history of The Walt Disney Company is Mickey Mouse. After all, it all started with a man and a mouse, right?
Mickey Mouse
But something interesting happened with that mouse recently. The first version of Mickey Mouse, as he appeared in the short film Steamboat Willie, officially entered the public domain this month. That means Disney’s copyright for that version of Mickey Mouse has expired (which happens after 100 years). Now, we’ve already seen what happens when an iconic character becomes public domain with Winnie the Pooh and the horror film that followed. So what’s happened with Mickey since Steamboat Willie entered public domain?
Let’s just say, it didn’t take a LOT of time for new Mickey projects to pop up.
The first thing we noticed was a new horror movie starring Steamboat Willie called Mickey’s Mouse Trap. Now, it seems that this film has been in the works for a while and was just announced as soon as Mickey became a public domain character. There’s even already a trailer for it!
The movie follows a young woman on her 21st birthday who works at an amusement park. After her friends show up to surprise her, things get pretty scary after someone in a scary Mickey Mouse suit starts hunting them. Yikes!
But that’s not all, because there’s a horror Mickey video game coming out, too. Game developer Nightmare Forge Games has announced a game called Infestation: Origins, an episodic co-op survival horror game set in the late 80s.
In the game, you play as an exterminator who rids buildings of “twisted versions of classic characters and urban legends.” One of those characters is — of course — Mickey Mouse. The game is expected to be released later this year as an early access on Steam for PC players.
But wait, there’s more! Because Adult Swim has jumped on the bandwagon. Of course, it has. 😨
We’re pretty certain that this is only the TIP of the iceberg and more projects will follow. We do have to reiterate that this is just for the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse and all other versions of Mickey after that are still under copyright.
Stay tuned to DFB for more.
Is Disney “Retiring” Mickey Mouse?
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I feel like the horror movie may have some legal issues cause Steamboat Willie is Black and white and the horror movie was color.
And that’s why I have been in favor of copyrights being extended indefinitely. Some things need stay protected. I hope these projects flop.
I’m not one that usually sides with corporate – but why is it that they couldn’t own this copyright/trademark forever? And I don’t just mean Disney and Mickey Mouse…if you are the owner of something, it should not be allowed to be taken from you, period. Also, why just Mickey? Minnie, a very early version of Clarabelle, and Pete are in that cartoon too. Why are they not public domain?
I see where Life is Good is using Steamboat Willie
My comment is simply. WHY? Why on Gods Green Earth would anyone want to watch a horror film or play a horror game involving Micky Mouse? There are some sad, sad people around…
Love it! The more Mickeys, the merrier!
Re: Steve
They are all Public Domain. Thr entire cartoon and all if the characters.
Mickey Mouse is just the face of the brand. It would take a lot more journalistic real estate to run through all of the movies, shorts and characters on the list.
Mickey Mouse Is the face of the brand hence the headline.