Mickey Mouse horror film announced after Disney loses copyright

[ad_1]

Company lost copyright on the first version of its most famous character. The horror film with Mickey Mouse announced after Disney lost copyright MICKEY’S MOUSE TRAP via BBC It’s Mickey, but not the one you’re used to seeing. A trailer for a horror film, which features a masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse, was released on January 1, the day Disney’s copyright on early versions of the cartoon character expired in the United States. “We just wanted to have fun with it,” said the film’s director. A new Mickey-inspired horror game, featuring the character covered in bloodstains, was also released on the same day. Steamboat Willie, a 1928 short film featuring early versions of Mickey and Minnie, entered the public domain in the US on New Year’s Day. This means that cartoonists, novelists and filmmakers can now rework and use early versions of Mickey and Minnie. Now anyone can use these versions without permission or cost. Some were quick to take advantage of the new rules – with a trailer (which contains violent scenes) for a Mickey horror film released the same day. In the horror-comedy thriller, called Mickey’s Mouse Trap, a young girl is thrown a surprise birthday party at an arcade – but things quickly take a turn for the worse when she and her friends encounter a knife-wielding killer dressed as Mickey.” A place for fun, a place for friends, a place to hunt. The mouse is out,” the trailer shows in red text. “I mean, it’s Mickey Mouse from Steamboat Willie murdering people. It’s ridiculous,” said the film director Jamie Bailey. “We ran with it and had fun doing it, and I think it shows.” The film itself has no confirmed release date, but is expected to be released in March. A new video game featuring the 1928 version of Mickey was also released. Game studio Nightmare Forge Games said the game, titled Infestation 88, is a survival horror game in which a worm outbreak turns into something more sinister. At the beginning of the trailer, a man is heard saying nervously: “I thought it was just rodents, but there’s something else here.” A huge blood-spattered Mickey appears on the screen, while mice run around him. The game’s description says that players – who take on the role of exterminators – are tasked with treating “mysterious infestations caused by twisted versions of classic characters and urban legends.” Mickey, however, is not the first children’s character to receive the horror film treatment. “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” Playback/Trailler When Winnie the Pooh entered the public domain, the adorable bear was turned into the censored horror film Blood and Honey, which was one of the with the worst audience of last year. US copyright law says character rights can be retained for 95 years. Disney has faced losing copyrights to its original cartoons several times in the past. The characters were first expected to enter the public domain in 1984, but Congress extended the deadline by 20 years. Before the next expiration date in 2004, another 20-year extension was approved. Disney’s efforts to protect its characters even led to the law being dubbed the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act.” But the moment finally arrived and was hailed as “deeply symbolic” by experts. The company still separately owns the Mickey trademark as a brand identifier and corporate mascot. This means there are still limits on how the public can use these images. And Disney has insisted that more modern versions of Mickey are still protected by copyright. “Of course, we will continue to protect our rights in more modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remain subject to copyright,” the company said.

[ad_2]

Source link