According the the reporters from IGN “The original versions of Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse have entered the public domain.” If you don’t know Walt Disney’s mascot made his first debut in the Disney’s short film Steamboat Willie and came out in 1928 which leaves the mouse open for grabs and nobody can get in trouble by using his image.
Since this news hit many people and companies have already started to use the mouse in their own ways for example what Adult Swim posted when they found out. Someone also already made a whole horror game of Mickey Mouse which is about investigating a abandon factory while Mickey stalks his prey.
After that a couple days a trailer released for a Mickey Mouse horror film called “Mickeys Mouse Trap” and from what we see it looks like its about a murderer wearing a Mickey Mouse mask and is ready to attack his victims in a arcade but before this director Steven LaMorte the director of The Mean One said he was going to make his own Steamboat Willie horror movie as well.
So as you saw many people are taking advantage of his new open domain but what does this mean for other characters? A list of characters coming soon will be Mickeys dog Pluto in 2026, Donald Duck in 2030, Superman in 2034, characters from Tolkien’s The Hobbit in 2033,Batman in 2035,Captain Marvel and Shazam in 2035.
Now in my opinion the fate of these characters coming in public domain could be either good or bad since we already have seen what happened to Winnie the Pooh and how when Rhys Frake-Waterfield made a horror movie the reception did not receive well but they decided to continue pushing on with a sequel.
This could be good for other characters to be in a public domain project and the fan reception could get a good report.In my opinion I think it is a little concerning that now people can soon do whatever they want with these characters in either good or a bad ways- this could expand or diminish the cultural importance of these characters. The trailer for the Mickey Mouse horror film literally came on January 3. IGN reporters did confirm its early footage but still it reminds me of its having a possible fate like Winnie the Pooh:Blood and Honey.
