You would possibly know him as Disney’s most iconic determine, however a Canadian horror director has different concepts.
The earliest iteration of Mickey Mouse entered the general public area on Jan. 1, and Jamie Bailey and his staff had been fast to launch a trailer that day for the upcoming slasher film Mickey’s Mouse Trap.
Asked why he would make a film corrupting the beloved kids’s character, Bailey’s response was: “Why not?”
“It’s really such an iconic character, and we felt there was kind of a pent-up audience for this,” he mentioned. “And we were proven right. We just cannot believe the amount of responses we’ve gotten back since we released the trailer. It’s just been wild.”
The well-known mouse made his first look within the 1928 brief movie Steamboat Willie, and solely that model of him is now within the public area — not the gloved, big-eared model of Mickey that individuals know and love right this moment.
Bailey mentioned Mickey’s Mouse Trap was partially impressed by Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a slasher film launched in early 2023 after the copyright expired for the unique model of the beloved anthropomorphic bear.
Bailey, who’s initially from Glace Bay, N.S., and now resides in Toronto, mentioned placing a gritty twist on characters usually linked to childhood nostalgia is certain to get folks speaking.
“Just the novelty of it, it piques everyone’s interest right off the bat,” he mentioned. “Seeing your beloved childhood character going around murdering people, it’s just kind of fun.”
‘Seeing your beloved childhood character going around murdering people, it’s simply type of enjoyable,’ says ‘Mickey’s Mouse Trap’ director Jamie Bailey.
Into Frame Films Ltd
Mickey’s Mouse Trap, directed from a screenplay written by Simon Phillips, tells the story of a bunch of associates celebrating the lead character’s birthday at a Chuck E. Cheese-esque venue one evening. Terror ensues when somebody will get possessed by Mickey Mouse and begins killing attendees.
“That’s pretty much all you need to know,” Bailey mentioned.
The film was shot in September 2023 at Funhaven, an amusement centre in Ottawa. Bailey mentioned they wished to get the filming achieved early so they may launch the trailer as quickly because the copyright expired.
“We thought it would get some attention, and it sure did,” he mentioned.
There isn’t any set launch date but as Bailey remains to be in talks with distributors, however he hopes to have it launched by March.
Jamie Bailey’s manufacturing firm is in talks with distributors, however hopes the movie could be launched by March.
Into Frame Films Ltd
Bailey mentioned he’s not overly involved with Disney taking authorized motion, although he acknowledged that as an enormous conglomerate, it may squash his manufacturing firm “like a bug.”
“I’m totally willing to direct the next three Marvel movies for free, Disney, if you don’t sue us,” Bailey provided. “It’s a fair deal.”
Disney didn’t reply to a media request asking about its response to the upcoming horror movie, however mentioned in a press release to The Associated Press that it’s going to, “of course, continue to protect our rights in the more modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remain subject to copyright.”
Using characters a ‘no-brainer’
With plenty of kids’s characters having entered the general public area this 12 months, like Pooh’s good friend Tigger and the never-aging Peter Pan, and others set to have their copyright expire within the subsequent decade — akin to Disney darlings Donald Duck and Pluto — Bailey mentioned the time is ripe to reimagine these characters in numerous methods.
The horror style is a very good solution to discover these characters’ darker sides, he mentioned.
“It’s the only genre of film that you can make without a big star. The genre itself is the star,” he mentioned.
“So tying it up with a childhood character like Mickey Mouse … it’s kind of a no-brainer. I think the market might get saturated with it, and it will really come down to what ones are good or not.”
The movie takes place in an amusement arcade throughout a celebration gone awry.
Into Frame Films Ltd
Whether or not the movie is seen nearly as good has but to be determined. Online reactions to the trailer’s launch have been blended – however Bailey mentioned any publicity is nice publicity, “especially for a movie like this.”
“The more people that talk about it, the better,” he mentioned. “I assume that a lot of people will be hate-watching it, that’s fine too — just as long as they watch it.”
While Bailey’s Mickey Mouse horror movie often is the first, it received’t be the final. Another horror flick that includes the Steamboat Willie character, which has but to be titled, was introduced Tuesday from director Steven LaMorte.
And a Steamboat Willie-impressed survival horror recreation named Infestation: Origins is about to launch later this 12 months.
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