• mustGo [any]@hexbear.net
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    11 months ago

    The film will follow a sadistic mouse who torments a group of unsuspecting ferry passengers.

    Not far off from the original plot tbh.

  • CthulhusIntern [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    11 months ago

    Just do literally anything else. It doesn’t have to make sense. Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse are two film noir detectives. Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh team up to fight space pirates. A gay romcom starring Mickey Mouse and Fleischer’s Bimbo. Just… anything other than Generic Slasher Except Newly Public Domain Character, please.

  • Dharma Curious@startrek.website
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    11 months ago

    I’m all for immediately jumping on this, but why is it all horror movies? We have an opportunity to showcase exactly why we should be allowing these properties to enter the public domain. Somebody, please, do what Disney did with all the public domain stories, and make something we can cherish. If for no other reason than so we have something to wave in front of the 3 members of congress who haven’t been completely bought to show them why it’s a good thing that copyrights end eventually.

      • AlkaliMarxist@hexbear.net
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        11 months ago

        It’s also the most shocking “you can’t do that to Mickey Mouse” thing they could make short of a porno (which I’d wager is also in the works) and that’s obviously their marketing angle.

    • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      11 months ago

      I’m all for immediately jumping on this, but why is it all horror movies? We have an opportunity to showcase exactly why we should be allowing these properties to enter the public domain.

      My wild guess is that’s exactly why. If I was a giant business on the scale if Disney, I’d secretly get somene to make these movies as terrible as possible to spread the idea that public domain = low quality, and convince ppl that me owning the copyright is what kept them from sucking.

      • btfod [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        11 months ago

        I think you’re onto something, this sentiment was expressed in the Kotaku (I think) article about the Nazi game.

        Paraphrasing but it was like ‘If this is the result, why bother releasing any art into the public domain?’

        • MayoPete [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          11 months ago

          IDK… I hope people don’t take that away from all this.

          It’s ok for art to be disgusting or obscene. Art is expression. It doesn’t have to be comfortable.

          I don’t want a giant corporation controlling how people can express themselves, even if those expressions aren’t things I personally enjoy.

    • DayOfDoom [any, any]@hexbear.net
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      11 months ago

      live-action Winnie The Pooh killing people is easier to film than assembling a team of animators to make more gentle Winnie cartoons about life and growing up.

    • axont [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      11 months ago

      Because making a horror movie out of public domain children’s characters feels the most audacious. They’re going for shock. It’s the easiest way to garner attention.

    • LENINSGHOSTFACEKILLA [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      11 months ago

      Horror is extremely profitable. Very cheap to write, shoot, produce, and generally gets a good return on its money. There’s a reason why most of the big time directors back in the day were first given a horror movie to shoot.

    • DragonBallZinn [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      11 months ago

      I’m surprised there hasn’t been a flood of articles talking about abolishing public domain in the US because that would be, and I quote “leaving money on the table and ruining our economy.”

      There is nothing they won’t enshittify and they will say that their system is perfection.

  • joaomarrom [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    11 months ago

    how about this shit here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe85jZhSflk

    this game was called Infestation 88, and is a horror survival type game in which you play as an exterminator and your weapon against steamboat willie is a kind of gas cannon

    people pointed out that 88 + gas + rats was extremely sus, and the developer renamed the game to Infestation: Origins, but now the whistle has already been blown and rather than a dog whistle, it’s more like the whistle on willie’s steamboat

  • combat_brandonism [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    11 months ago

    honestly a gritty steamboat willie that critiques the depths of depravity that is disney’s history goes hard

    already been done (can’t remember where, but evil steamboat willie is def a trope), but I can’t get enough of that shit

      • Abracadaniel [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        11 months ago

        That’s correct, mostly. He doesn’t need the hat since the other two cartoons that are public now depict him with different (or no) headwear. All three are black & white tho. This is from his wikipedia article:

        On January 1, 2024, the copyrights of the first three animated Mickey Mouse cartoons and their portrayal of Mickey Mouse expired, and they entered the public domain. They are the silent cartoons Plane Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho, and the sound cartoon Steamboat Willie. Newer versions of Mickey Mouse will remain copyright protected.

        Although Mickey Mouse lapsed into the public domain in 2024, the character, like all major Disney characters, remains trademarked, which lasts in perpetuity as long as it continues to be used commercially by its owner. So, whether or not a particular Disney cartoon goes into the public domain, the characters themselves may not be used as trademarks without authorization.

      • unperson [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        11 months ago

        You’re thinking of the public domain as if Walt Disney had given us a licence to use a particular depiction of Mickey Mouse.

        It’s not the case. It’s hard to imagine after 100 years, but the character is now as free as Jesus, or Winnie the Pooh, or the three piglets. You can incorporate mickey into your story however you want, depict him however you like.

        • axont [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          11 months ago

          Is that the case? The way it was explained to me is that Mickey Mouse the character is still under trademark, but the short film Steamboat Willie is what falls under public domain now. I was told as an example that one couldn’t use Mickey Mouse as a logo, but could make derivative works of Steamboat Willie.

          • unperson [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            11 months ago

            You can take Mickey from Steamboat Willie, make him wink, give him tie-dye shorts and pink skin, and use him as the logo Mickey Dishwasher Soap—you can’t use him as is for a trademark because it’s too generic.

            You can’t use his ears for an animation studio or a TV channel because it’s easy to confuse with Disney’s trademarks.

            Trademarks are limited by category (which is why Apple Computer got into a lawsuit with Apple Records only after Apple Computer launched iTunes, before it was perfectly fair) and enforced on similarity. Also a trademark has to be distinct but doesn’t have to be original, you can use a bitten apple as a trademark but you can’t copyright that shape.

            Edit: another difference between trademarks and copyright is that you never lose the copyright, but you must keep enforcing a trademark. If you let your brand become the generic term for a product, if you let others use your mark without suing them, then you lose the rights over the name.