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.
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