It’s Mickey, but not as you’ve ever seen him before.
A trailer for a slasher film, featuring a masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse, was released on 1 January, the day that Disney’s copyright on the earliest versions of the cartoon character expired in the US.
“We wanted the polar opposite of what exists,” the movie’s producer said.
A new Mickey-inspired horror game, showing the rodent covered with blood stains, also dropped on the same day.
Steamboat Willie, a 1928 short film featuring early non-speaking versions of Mickey and Minnie, entered the public domain in the US on New Year’s Day.
It means cartoonists, novelists and filmmakers can now rework and use the earliest versions of Mickey and Minnie.
People will look back on this era and say, “just because they could have doesn’t mean they should have.”
I suppose, but it feels more like a cheap cash grab to me.
If the game or the movie are anything more than mediocre, I’ll reconsider.
The game has a Nazi name, Nazi community moderators, a theme about killing vermin, a large right wing following online…
When you say your bar isn’t a Nazi bar but Nazis just keep showing up and hanging around, guess what you have.
Oh, it’s undoubtedly that too. But if these characters had entered public domain decades ago like they should have, something similar would have been done and the novelty of beloved characters doing “shocking” things would have worn off.
Maybe backlash is the wrong word, but their own damn fault at least.
Just because Disney could lobby to make copyright law insanely long doesn’t mean they should have. It wouldn’t have been s big event if Disney didn’t make it one.
I’m not talking about copyright law, and if you read a tiny bit further down, you would see that I talked multiple times about the problem with modern copyright law and Disney’s part in it.
Shitty copyright law doesn’t mean we have to have shitty movies and shitty video games.
I don’t mind a good example being made of this. The original creator(s) are long dead and gone. All the current copyright laws do are prevent innovation and protect money flow of large corporations in my opinion. Is was originally so individuals who came up with new great ideas could reap the rewards of that idea. No longer is that the case.
“The Copyright Act of 1790 was the first statute in the United States to identify definite provisions of copyright law and permitted authors the right to their intellectual property for a duration of 14 years. Today, depending on the type of work, copyright terms can reach up to 120 years. Historically, Disney has been exceedingly protective of their intellectual property and is a prominent supporter and lobbyist for copyright term extension (Bernaski, 2014). Disney’s involvement in copyright term extension originates from their goal to prevent their copyrights from entering the public domain, specifically their Mickey Mouse character.”
I say make a good example of them. The creator should benifit from their creations, but ideas should not be stifled for generations to accomplish that.
Disclaimer: I have not read my source, shame on me if it is counter to my opinion. But corporations are not people, I don’t care what the SC says.
Oh I don’t disagree. I think the standard for most of the 20th century- 19 years with an option to renew for another 19, made a lot more sense. I just don’t praise these companies seeing dollar signs because they can capitalize off of a popular work becoming public domain almost the minute it enters the public domain either.
I agree fundamentally, but I think, especially with AI faking stuff, we need to get back to people just writing things off as shitty ripoffs and ignoring them. Take away the novelty of it and it’ll go away. Disney made this particular bed. Now they gotta lay in it.
I for some reason have enough faith in humanity that once we how dumb this all plays out some realistic rules can be put in place.
Note that Mickey Mouse himself is most definitely trademarked and protected via IP laws. The mouse himself may still also be copyrighted (I haven’t bothered to look)
Creating derivative works is still most certainly illegal.
tl;dr you can freely share Steamboat Willie, but you should not try to create your own Mickey Mouse shows since Disney has no issue bankrupting you in a copyright/trademark lawsuit.
That being said, bring on the nightmare mouse!
What’s the difference between mickey mouse and “the mouse himself” the way you used it?
It means the character of Mickey Mouse is protected by trademark. Pretty sure these film makers get sued.
They can use the character, as long as they don’t advertise in a way that infringes on Disney’s trademark (can’t use the mouse silhouette etc.) and they can only use the character as he appeared in the 1928 short, he can’t have gloves or red shorts like the Mickey we know now does.
It’s a tightrope, but it’s possible to use the character legally. I’m sure Disney’s lawyers are looking over this stuff with a magnifying glass though.
It’s so edgy. At first you’re like “Hey that’s Mickey Mouse! I know him!” And then he’s doing horrible things and you’re like “wait a minute - Mickey Mouse wouldn’t kill people!”
That’s what makes it artistic.
Fuck Disney, Fuck Copyright laws and all of that, but there has got to be something more interesting to do with Mickey than a schlocky horror movie with a budget of two paper clips and a pack of gum
Yeah they did this with Winnie the Pooh and afaik it wasn’t great. I get the idea, but lacks creativity if “it’s just opposite” is your draw card.
I watched it. I was actually kind of excited. I enjoy cheesy horror movies. Including ones that know what they are. Movies like Skinamarink are amazing works of art, and i love it, but Llamageddon was a movie to watch with friends, have a few beers and a frozen pizza.
But I feel like when people make these movies, it’s a really fine line to walk, where it can easily just become bad. The Winnie the Pooh one unfortunate just missed the mark. It was just bad. Not the worst, but I don’t see myself watching it again.
2020 - S05E03 - Mickey Mouse Horror Show
A trailer for a slasher film, featuring a masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse, was released on 1 January, the day that Disney’s copyright on the earliest versions of the cartoon character expired in the US. A new Mickey-inspired horror game, showing the rodent covered with blood stains, also dropped on the same day. Steamboat Willie, a 1928 short film featuring early non-speaking versions of Mickey and Minnie, entered the public domain in the US on New Year’s Day. It means cartoonists, novelists and filmmakers can now rework and use the earliest versions of Mickey and Minnie. It’s Mickey, but not as you’ve ever seen him before. TV-MA, 47 mins
SD, SHD, UHD, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Surround
