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.
So is this just going to happen with every single character that goes into public domain? Someone just has to make a garbage horror movie about them?
Yeah.
Just like how people are more likely to want to stay standing up after having to sit for 8 hours for work/school.
There’s a social rubberbanding effect, just gotta get it out of our collective system so the tension is released, and then better content will come after that release.
People will look back on this era and say, “just because they could have doesn’t mean they should have.”
This feels like a backlash to the insane length of copyright terms.
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.
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.
It’s definitely Disney’s fault. The original reason they convinced Sonny Bono to extend the copyright act was because it was the home video era and it meant anyone could start selling VHS tapes with Steamboat Willie on them. Now that era is over, so Disney cares a lot less.
Look at their acquisitions since the last time they lobbied for an extension…They own Star Wars, Marvel, and Hulu now. They don’t care (about extending the copyright) this time because Steamboat Willie ain’t shit to them (in terms of income) anymore. Mickey Mouse might as well just be the logo for Disneyland/world at this point
Edit: added stuff in parenthesis to clarify what I’m saying
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.
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.
