A Killer Mickey Mouse Is One Way To Start Off 2024 – But Can Disney Do Anything About It?
The fraudulent Michelangelo who performed at Mar-a-Lago isn't the only imposter version of an iconic animated anthropomorphic animal on the loose at the dawn of 2024.
As of January 1 this year, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks's "Steamboat Willie" — the benchmark 1928 black-and-white cartoon short featuring Mickey Mouse in his earliest form — has officially entered the public domain. That means it's open season for anyone and everyone who wants to use that iteration of the Walt Disney Company's mascot (in theory, anyway). So, naturally, there's already an influx of horror-themed films and even video games aiming to parody the rodent's family-friendly image. (Nobody tell them that Kevin Smith basically already did that 25 years ago with the Mickey-inspired Mooby the Golden Calf in "Dogma.")
Up first? "Mickey's Mouse Trap." Directed by Jamie Bailey, the slasher film centers on Alex, a young woman who's stuck spending her 21st birthday working a late shift at her amusement arcade job when a masked killer dressed as "Steamboat Willie" era Mickey shows up to wreak havoc. The movie already has a trailer, and it looks just as hacky and ultra-low-budget as you would expect, with lines of dialogue that are practically lifted wholesale out of Wes Craven's self-reflexive slasher classic "Scream." The self-described "comedy horror feature film" is also blatantly riffing on Freddy Fazbear's Pizza from "Five Nights at Freddy's" with its own blood-stained fun center setting.
Quality, of course, isn't the top priority for Bailey's proudly trashy schlockfest. (In a statement posted by The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker outright called the film "ridiculous," adding, "We ran with it and had fun doing it and I think it shows.") It's all about getting this movie out there before the competition. Well, that and, potentially, Disney's army of trademark lawyers.
There's more than one murderous mouse in the house
Steven LaMorte had the same idea as Bailey, which should come as no surprise given his prior work. The director, who previously helmed a slasher film sendup of Dr. Seuss' Grinch titled "The Mean One," is gearing up to start production this spring on a currently untitled horror-comedy movie about a Mickey-esque mouse who terrorizes a pack of ferry passengers. "'Steamboat Willie' has brought joy to generations, but beneath that cheerful exterior lies a potential for pure, unhinged terror," said LaMorte in a press release statement posted by Variety. "It's a project I've been dreaming of, and I can't wait to unleash this twisted take on this beloved character to the world."
Elsewhere, on the non-movie front, "Steamboat Willie" is serving as the inspiration for "Infestation 88," a horror survival co-op game that has just been announced by Nightmare Forge. The game's developers have issued the following logline for the title (via IGN):
"In the year 1988, what was thought to be an outbreak of rodents in various locations morphed into something far more sinister."
Speaking of "Five Nights at Freddy's," it sounds as though "Infestation 88" will borrow a page or two from the original "FNAF" point-and-click survival horror video games. Players will have to use security cameras to stay ahead of the game's killer mice either by hiding, fleeing or, if needs be, directly fighting them. Fortunately, it would seem that the murderous rodents of "Infestation 88" are a bit more vulnerable than the homicidal animatronic children's mascots from "FNAF," as you can lay down traps to try and take them out before they get you.
Taking the Mickey out of Disney
This whole situation with "Steamboat Willie" is extremely reminiscent of what happened when the rights to author A. A. Milne and illustrator E. H. Shepard's 1926 book "Winnie-the-Pooh" entered the public domain at the start of January 2022. As a result, writer and director Rhys Frake-Waterfield was able to move forward with "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey," a slasher movie take on the titular bear, as well as select other members of the Hundred Acre Wood.
To avoid being sued by Disney, "Blood and Honey" could only take inspiration from the iterations of Pooh and his friends from Milne's book, and not Disney's animated adaptations. The movie also had to leave out Tigger entirely as he wasn't introduced until one of Milne's later books (although the character has since entered the public domain, too, which is why he's now slated to appear in the upcoming sequel). Similarly, the creatives behind the film took extra care to ensure their versions of the Silly Old Bear and his buddies could never be reasonably mistaken for the ones crafted by Disney so as to avoid trademark infringement.
Following in the (bloody) footsteps of "The Mean One" and "Blood and Honey," all three of the aforementioned Mickey Mouse horror projects are being careful to not only model their deadly mice after Mickey from "Steamboat Wilie" and nothing else but to also ensure they're as different from the real deal as possible. ("We are doing our due diligence to make sure there's no question or confusion of what we're up to," LaMorte clarified.) So long as they do that, there's not a lot Disney can do about these projects other than glare at them like Mickey's disapproving boss Pete.
"Mickey's Mouse Trap" has yet to set an official release date.