Filmmakers in 2024 are lining up to take the Mickey out of Disney — to horrifying results. But how do they avoid the ire of CEO Bob Iger?
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00:00 Filmmakers in 2024 are lining up to take the Mickey out of Disney to horrifying results.
00:07 But how do they avoid the ire of CEO Bob Iger?
00:14 Steamboat Willie, the benchmark 1928 black and white cartoon short featuring Mickey Mouse
00:19 in his earliest form, has officially entered the public domain.
00:23 That means it's open season for anyone and everyone who wants to use that iteration of
00:27 the Walt Disney Company's mascot.
00:30 So naturally, there's already an influx of horror-themed films and even video games aiming
00:34 to parody the rodent's family-friendly image.
00:37 Up first, Mickey's Mousetrap.
00:40 Directed by Jamie Bailey, the slasher film centers on Alex, a young woman who's stuck
00:44 spending her 21st birthday working a late shift at her amusement arcade job, when a
00:49 masked killer dressed as Steamboat Willie-era Mickey shows up to wreak havoc.
00:53 The movie looks just as hacky and ultra-low budget as you would expect, with lines of
00:57 dialogue that are practically lifted wholesale out of Wes Craven's self-reflexive slasher
01:02 classic Scream.
01:03 "Like if you was in a horror movie, you'd never say, 'I'll be right back,' because then
01:09 you don't."
01:10 The self-described "comedy horror feature film" is also blatantly riffing on Freddy
01:15 Fazbear's Pizza from Five Nights at Freddy's, with its own blood-stained fun-center setting.
01:20 Quality, of course, isn't the top priority for Bailey's proudly trashy schlockfest.
01:25 In a statement posted by The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker outright called the film "ridiculous,"
01:30 adding,
01:31 "We ran with it and had fun doing it, and I think it shows."
01:35 It's all about getting this movie out there before the competition.
01:39 Well that, and potentially, Disney's army of trademark lawyers.
01:42 Stephen Lamorte had the same idea as Bailey, which should come as no surprise given his
01:47 prior work.
01:48 The director, who previously helmed a slasher film send-up of Dr. Seuss' Grinch titled The
01:52 Mean One, is gearing up to start production this spring on a currently untitled horror
01:57 comedy movie about a Mickey-esque mouse who terrorizes a pack of ferry passengers.
02:02 Lamorte said in a press release posted by Variety,
02:05 "Steamboat Willie has brought joy to generations.
02:08 But beneath that cheerful exterior lies a potential for pure, unhinged terror.
02:13 It's a project I've been dreaming of, and I can't wait to unleash this twisted take
02:16 on this beloved character to the world."
02:19 Elsewhere on the non-movie front, Steamboat Willie is serving as the inspiration for Infestation
02:24 '88, a horror survival co-op game that has just been announced by Nightmare Forge.
02:29 The game's developers have issued the following logline for the title.
02:32 "In the year 1988, what was thought to be an outbreak of rodents in various locations
02:37 morphed into something far more sinister."
02:40 It sounds like Infestation '88 will also borrow a page or two from the original Five Nights
02:44 at Freddy's point-and-click survival horror video games.
02:48 Players will have to use security cameras to stay ahead of the game's killer mice, either
02:52 by hiding, fleeing, or, if need be, directly fighting them.
02:56 Unfortunately, it would seem that the murderous rodents of Infestation '88 are a bit more
03:00 vulnerable than the homicidal animatronic children's mascots from Freddy's, as you can
03:05 lay down traps to try and take them out before they get you.
03:08 This whole situation with Steamboat Willie is extremely reminiscent of what happened
03:12 when the rights to author A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepherd's 1926 book, Winnie the Pooh,
03:18 entered the public domain at the start of January 2022.
03:22 As a result, writer and director Rhys Frake-Waterfield was able to move forward with Winnie the Pooh
03:27 Blood and Honey, a slasher movie take on the titular bear, as well as select other members
03:32 of the Hundred Acre Wood.
03:33 "We used to be friends, why are you doing this?"
03:38 To avoid being sued by Disney, Blood and Honey could only draw inspiration from the iterations
03:42 of Pooh and his friends from Milne's book, and not Disney's animated adaptations.
03:47 The movie also had to leave out Tigger entirely, as he wasn't introduced until one of Milne's
03:51 later books.
03:52 "I can't do it, I tell you, it's too risky!"
03:56 Similarly, the creatives behind the film took extra care to ensure their versions of the
04:01 silly old bear and his buddies could never be reasonably mistaken for the ones crafted
04:04 by Disney, so as to avoid trademark infringement.
04:08 Working in the "bloody" footsteps of The Mean One and Blood and Honey, all three of the
04:13 Mickey Mouse horror projects are being careful to not only model their deadly mice after
04:17 Mickey from Steamboat Willie and nothing else, but to also ensure they're as different from
04:21 the real deal as possible.
04:24 "Hot dog!"
04:26 [music]