As It Occurs6:28Director of Mickey Mouse slasher movie is completely cool with you hate-watching it
The director of a Mickey Mouse slasher film has a message for all of the haters on the market: Deliver it on.
The trailer for Mickey’s Mouse Lure dropped on Jan. 1, the identical day the beloved Disney icon’s earliest iteration entered the general public area. And already, director Jamie Bailey says, “there’s one million TikToks” ripping it to shreds.
“We really love the damaging suggestions as a result of, you understand, it simply attracts extra curiosity,” the Toronto-based horror filmmaker advised As It Occurs visitor host Megan Williams.
“There appears to be, you understand, a market for those that wish to hate this type of stuff. And it does not matter. Simply, in the event you watch the film — in the event you pay to observe the film — then, yeah, that is all we wish.”
Bailey is aiming to launch Mickey’s Mouse Lure in March, however says he’s nonetheless in talks with distributors.
WATCH | Trailer for Mickey’s Mouse Lure:
He and his crew shot their low-budget indie horror movie in September so that they may launch the trailer the minute the copyright dried up for Steamboat Willie — the 1928 Disney animated brief that formally debuted the characters of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
However legally, the filmmakers have needed to tread flippantly. Solely the Steamboat Willie iteration of Mickey is within the public area — not the trendy mouse who greets guests with a heat hug at Disney’s theme parks.
Equally, when Winnie the Pooh entered the general public area on Jan. 1, 2022, it solely included Canadian writer A.A. Milne’s 1926 short-story assortment. Later additions to the franchise — together with the character of Tigger, and Pooh’s iconic crimson shirt — have been off the desk.
That did not cease British director Rhys Frake-Waterfield from releasing his slasher film, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, in 2023.
“They by no means received sued for that one,” Bailey famous hopefully.
Disney has refined Mickey since his steamboat days, giving him white gloves and extra detailed eyes.
And whereas trendy Mickey is thought for his charming character, Steamboat Willie Mickey was extra menacing along with his propensity to make use of his fellow animals as musical devices.
Bailey’s film faucets into these sinister undertones. The antagonist is possessed by the Steamboat Willie mouse — the movie even reveals reels from the black and white cartoon — and dons a classic mouse masks to terrorize his victims.
Requested if he is nervous about getting a dreaded name from Disney, regardless of his efforts to toe the authorized line, he stated: “Oh, completely. Clearly, it is a factor that may occur. Disney has one or two legal professionals.
“What I can say is that we completely love Disney. We’re not making an attempt to do something to offend them or to degrade Mickey Mouse in any manner, form or kind. We’re making an attempt to play with the character,” he stated.
Disney didn’t reply to a request for remark from CBC. However in an announcement launched forward of the pending copyright expiry, the corporate stated: “We’ll, in fact, proceed to guard our rights within the extra trendy variations of Mickey Mouse and different works that stay topic to copyright.”
2 horror films and 1 online game
Bailey is not the one individual capitalizing on the Steamboat Willie copyright expiry.
Steven LaMorte, who beforehand directed a horror parody of The Grinch referred to as The Imply One, has introduced plans for a Mickey-inspired horror film. On Instagram, he described the plot as: “A late-night boat trip turns right into a determined combat for survival in New York Metropolis when a mischievous mouse turns into a monstrous actuality.”
What’s extra, a Steamboat WIllie-inspired survival horror online game referred to as Infestation: Origins impressed is slated for launch in 2024 by firm Nightmare Forge Video games.
“It is not restricted to us. Anybody can do that,” Bailey stated. “That is the best way it must be.”
Whether or not the movie hits theatres or a streaming channel, he suspects individuals will watch it — even when they suppose it appears to be like horrible.
“That is the ironic factor that you simply see on a regular basis is that individuals say, ‘Look, this appears to be like like trash. I can not wait to see it.'”
