Well, we all knew this was coming: Disney has gone dark thanks to “Steamboat Willie” now being in the public domain.
The earliest version of the conglomerate’s iconic Mickey Mouse character is now up for grabs — and the team behind the upcoming horror film “The Mouse Trap” wasted no time reimagining Mickey as a murderer.
Jamie Bailey directs the twisted take on the mouse with Simon Phillips playing the serial killer version of Mickey. The teaser trailer was released January 1 to announce the project just as the character entered the public domain and legally could be incorporated in Disney-less films.
The official synopsis reads: “It’s Alex’s 21st Birthday, but she’s stuck at the amusement arcade on a late shift so her friends decide to surprise her, but a masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse decides to play a game of his own with them which she must survive.”
Sophie McIntosh, Callum Sywyk, Allegra Nocita, Ben Harris, Damir Kovic, Mackenzie Mills, and Nick Biskupek co-star.
“‘The Mouse Trap’ film is famously the first horror film to use the Mickey Mouse character from ‘Steamboat Willie.’ We just wanted to have fun with it all,” Bailey said in a press statement. “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.”
Actor Phillips added, “We have a childlike excitement to show the world the film! We love the amazing work Walt Disney created here and we love the creative freedom the character coming into public domain provided. Fun. That’s what we had making it and what you will get watching it.”
The film is produced by Paul Whitney, Mark Popejoy, Alexander Gausman, and Andrew Agopsowicz, with Filmcore’s Mem Ferda co-producing. Gravitas Ventures and Anthem Sports & Entertainment Company are handling the distribution in North America.
“Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” director/producer Rhys Frake-Waterfield previously told IndieWire that despite the viral box office success of his indie horror take on Winnie the Pooh, he has no desire to take on any Mickey Mouse riffs for fear of legal repercussions. Without citing specific films, Frake-Waterfield admitted he “noticed some stuff” on some “Steamboat Willie” takes that “they shouldn’t have done.”
“We didn’t want to go near that character,” he said. “People think it’s an easy thing to grasp and just grab hold of, but there are big issues which I think they’re not aware of. There are things which we had to deal with with ‘Winnie the Pooh’ behind the scenes that were quite big, and I think [the ‘Steamboat Willie’ projects] might get a bit of a shock soon. […] They think just because something’s fallen in the public domain you can just make up a version of it and then put it out to market and it’s completely fine.”
“The Mouse Trap” premieres August 6 on VOD and digital. The DVD and Blu-Ray will be available August 13. Check out the trailer below.
