Mickey Mouse Horror Film, Video Game Unveiled As Copyright Expires On Original Version

A Mickey Mouse horror film trailer was released on January 1, the day that Disney's copyright on the earliest versions of the cartoon character expired in the United States. According to the BBC, a Mickey Mouse-inspired horror game, showing Disney's character covered with blood stains, also dropped the same day. While the British independent slasher film is called “Mickey's Mouse Trap”, the game being developed by studio Nightmare Forge is titled “Infestation 88”. 

Notably, Steamboat Willie, a 1928 short film featuring early non-speaking versions of Mickey and Minnie, entered the public domain in the US on New Year's Day this year. This means that anyone can now rework and use the earliest versions of Mickey and Minnie without permission or cost. 

"We wanted the polar opposite of what exists," the movie's producer said, as per the outlet. In the trailer of the film, a young woman is thrown a surprise birthday party in an amusement arcade. However, things quickly take a turn for the worse when she and her friends encounter a knife-wielding murdered in a Mickey Mouse costume. "A place for fun, a place for friends, a place for hunting. The mouse is out," text on the trailer read. 

Simon Phillips, who wrote and produced the film and plays the man behind the Mickey mask, said, “People need to not take it too seriously, we made a ridiculously fun movie”. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Phillips added that “if you put Mickey into a family movie, you don't cover new ground. In order to flip the coin, you have to come up with something that's the polar opposite of what already exists”. 

The release date of the film is still not confirmed but it is expected to be out in March. 

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The video game, on the other hand, also features the 1928 version of Mickey Mouse. According to the makers of the game, it is a survival horror game in which an outbreak of vermin turns into something more sinister. "I thought it was just rodents, but there's something else in here,” a man says at the start of the trailer of the game. Moments later, a huge, blood-splattered Mickey then pops up on screen. 

A spokesperson from Nightmare Forge Games told the outlet that Steamboat Willie entering the public domain "allowed us to include our own derivation of the film's starring character in our game, which fits perfectly as an antagonist causing an infestation".