1st January 2024 saw “Steamboat Willie,” the 1928 short film that launched Mickey Mouse and the Disney empire enter the become public domain and it took only a few hours before the first trailer exploiting this landed. And that first film to use the iconic character is the The Mouse Trap trailer (originally titled Mickey’s Mouse Trap ).
The story for the film 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.” with the films tagline being, “A place for fun, a place for friends, a place for hunting. The mouse is out.” Well, quite.
So in typical tradition we have the killer in a Mickey Mouse mask and a hockey shirt stalking and killing his way through the assembled teens one by one although the script seems to make a nod towards Scream like irony acknowledging the tropes of the horror genre. Directed by Jamie Bailey, he’s said, “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.”
The film stars Sophie McIntosh, Callum Sywyk, Allegra Nocita, Ben Harris, Damir Kovic, Mackenzie Mills, Nick Biskupek and Simon Phillips.
Whether this will start a cascade of Micky Mouse films is unlikely Disney have made it clear in no uncertain terms that Mickey’s voice, gloves, smile, trousers etc remain very much their copyright. After last years Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey and its sequel a few months ago we’ll also see Piglet enter the public domain this year too.
THE MOUSE TRAP will be released on digital platforms and DVD on 30th September
related feature : ‘Winnie the Pooh : Blood and Honey 2’ review
related feature : Amber Doig -Thorne takes us behind the scenes of ‘Winnie The Pooh ; Blood and Honey’
Here’s The Mouse Trap trailer…..
