Mickey Mouse lands first post-Disney gig: a slasher movie called Mickey's Mouse Trap
We saw this one coming from a mile away.
The original Mickey Mouse cartoon is now part of the public domain, so that means plenty of eccentric movies and games (most of them sadly low-effort) are coming our way. Enter Mickey's Mouse Trap.
We're kicking off 2024 with the least surprising news in a while, as everyone who's been keeping tabs on low-budget horror in recent years knows that famous characters entering the public domain equals an onslaught of cheap projects which aim to cover renowned kid-friendly icons in blood. Last year gave us Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, and now we're looking at the first of many Mickey Mouse flicks, shorts, and video games that were cooked in advance of 1928's Steamboat Willie going public (with some caveats).
You can watch the first trailer for Mickey's Mouse Trap below:
The movie is being described as a "comedy horror feature film," which means it actually has aspirations of landing a decently-sized release in the style of the aforementioned Winnie the Pooh flick last year. So far, distribution details are unknown, but The Hollywood Reporter is looking into it as we write this. Director Jamie Bailey also released a statement saying the movie is just a bunch of people goofing around: "We just wanted to have fun with it all. I mean it’s Steamboat Willie‘s Mickey Mouse murdering people. It’s ridiculous. We ran with it and had fun doing it and I think it shows." While we appreciate the sincerity, we're pretty sure the project will be scrutinized regardless, especially by Disney's lawyers.
This first trailer for Mickey's Mouse Trap also contains easily discernible Five Nights at Freddy's and Chuck E. Cheese vibes, so Bailey and his team might potentially be playing with more fire than they can handle here. As the piece on Steamboat Willie's rights linked above explains, the entire situation isn't as simple as it seems on the surface, so any aspiring filmmakers and game developers should be careful with how they approach the material when trying to capitalize on a recurring joke versus coming up with original stories and characters.
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