Within hours of Mickey Mouse becoming available on public domain, people wasted no time in turning the iconic Disney character into all kinds of images.
On New Year's Day, the Disney character, Steamboat Willie, which was the first appearance of Mickey Mouse in the 1928 film of the same name, became available in the public domain. It marked the first time in history Disney's famous mouse was free for all to use in, almost, any way they saw fit.
Disney will no longer be able to prevent other artists or companies from using the likeness of the character as he appeared in that short film now that Steamboat Willie is in the public domain.
People were quick to appropriate the famous character, including turning Mickey Mouse into the protagonist in a number of horror mediums. One was a video game called Infestation 88 and a feature film called Mickey's Mouse Trap.
The latter divided Disney fans after the trailer landed this week. It shows a group of young adults inside a video arcade as they are picked off one-by-one. What is hunting them turns out to be a knife-wielding, man-sized Mickey Mouse figure.
The film's synopsis reads, "beneath that cheerful exterior lies a potential for pure, unhinged terror."
Many argued it was too obvious to flip the beloved children's character into a psychotic killer, while others poked fun at the concept.
"If I see one more #MickeyMouse, but 'he's edgey and in a horror' I'm going to flip s***. People, you can freely use one of the most recognizable figures in history due to him being in the public domain. You don't always need to grab the lowest hanging fruit. Be creative, please," wrote one person on X, formerly Twitter.
Another added: "In my opinion, i think its great people are portraying mickey mouse as a horror character, shows disney what we really think of them by mocking their beloved characters. Decades of corporate evil finally being accurately portrayed."
And a third joked: "I know what i'm calling this new subgenre of horror movies... Copyfright."
Steamboat Willie was a historic film because it was the first-ever cartoon with synchronized sound. It was considered pioneering feat for modern animation at the time, but Mickey's appearance in that movie is different from today's version.
The more modern version of Mickey Mouse will not enter the public domain.
"Mickey Mouse as we know him, in color with gloves and shoes, will not enter the public domain," lawyer Marc Jonas Block told Newsweek in 2022. "Later, including current designs of Mickey Mouse, will still be copyrighted until their terms end. Also, Disney protects Mickey Mouse under both copyright and trademark laws."
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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