LOS ANGELES – The earliest version of Mickey Mouse is on the rise, barely two days into the public domain.
The iconic character from “Steamboat Willie,” freed from Disney’s DIS, +0.47% copyright as of Monday, is already the focus of two horror films. On Monday, just hours after the 1928 short was released to the public, a trailer for “Mickey's Mouse Trap” was released on YouTube. Another film was announced on Tuesday, the title of which is still untitled.
Steamboat Willie featured early versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, it was the third animated film starring the duo that they produced, but the first to be released. In it, a more menacing Mickey, who looks more like a rat than a mouse, captains a boat and builds musical instruments out of other animals.
So it's perhaps fitting that the first projects announced seem to be low-budget, cheesy slasher films – and not unprecedented. Winnie the Pooh – red shirtless – entered public domain in 2022; Almost a year later, he recorded a significant death toll in the micro-budget “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.”
In the trailer for “Mickey's Mouse Trap,” directed by Jamie Bailey, what appears to be a human wearing a comically small Mickey mask terrorizes a group of young people in an arcade.
“A place for fun. A place for friends. A place to hunt,” the text flashed as the trailer was read out. “The mouse is outside.”
“We just wanted to have fun with it. I mean, it’s Mickey Mouse from Steamboat Willie murdering people,” director Jamie Bailey said in a statement quoted by trade publications. “It's ridiculous. We ran with it and had fun with it, and I think it shows.”
No release date has been set.
The second film comes from director Steven LaMorte, who previously directed a horror parody of The Grinch that is not in the public domain (hence the film is called The Mean One).
“A nighttime boat ride turns into a desperate fight for survival in New York City when a mischievous mouse becomes a monstrous reality,” reads the logline for the untitled film in a post on LaMorte’s Instagram.
“Steamboat Willie has brought joy to generations, but behind that cheerful exterior lies the potential for pure, unhinged terror,” LaMorte said in a press release cited by the industry. Production on the film is yet to begin.
After the 95-year copyright expires, the public will only be allowed to use the early versions of Mickey and Minnie – not the more well-known character designs.
“We will of course continue to protect our rights to the more modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remain subject to copyright,” Disney said in a statement ahead of the characters’ release.
LaMorte told Variety that his film's producers are working with a legal team to avoid running afoul of Disney, and that they will name their angry rodent Steamboat Willie instead of Mickey Mouse.
“We are doing our due diligence to ensure there is no doubt or confusion about what we are planning to do,” he said.