Metaphorically killing millennials childhoods — Mickey vs. Winnie slasher horror film announced, using public-domain versions of the characters

[Archaic]

‘Mickey Vs. Winnie’: Glenn Douglas Packard To Direct Horror Slasher Based On Steam Boat Willie And Winnie The Pooh

Untouchables Entertainment, in association with genre website iHorror, is in production on Mickey vs. Winnie.

deadline.com

Untouchables Entertainment, in association with genre website iHorror, is in production on Mickey vs. Winnie. Glenn Douglas Packard, an Emmy nominated choreographer turned filmmaker (Pitchfork), is attached to direct from his original script.

The latest entry in the lineup of interpretations of children’s figures. Mickey vs. Winnie takes the now-public-domain characters from A. A. Milne’s ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ books and Mickey Mouse from the 1920s Steamboat Willie cartoon.

The film follows two convicts in the 1920s who escape into a cursed forest only to be dragged and consumed into the depths of the dark forest’s muddy heart. A century later, a group of thrill-seeking friends unknowingly venture into the same woods. Their Airbnb getaway takes a horrifying turn when the convicts mutate into twisted versions of childhood icons Mickey Mouse & Winnie-The-Pooh, and emerge to terrorize them. A night of violence and gore erupts, as the group of friends battle against their now monstrous beloved childhood characters and fight to break free from the forest’s grip. In a horrific spectacle, Mickey and Winnie clash, painting the woods in a gruesome tableau of blood—a chilling testament to the curse’s insidious power.

Maybe we've gone too far with cinematic universes...

Like, seriously, I'm glad that we're seeing groups already pushing the boundaries of what can be done with these characters now that they've entered the public domain, but why does it all have to be shock horror? Why haven't we seen someone take these classic children's characters to actually make things focused at younger and/or family audiences, like the characters were originally intended? Disney didn't sue Last Week Tonight, and they're not going to sue you.

 

[Juliyet]

Horror is generally one of the least expensive film genres to work with, and using a cutesy franchise but making it twisted and screwed up, can be easy way to turn heads and give them as much publicity as possible, boosting potential profits to what's already a pretty cheap endeavor. I'm also getting tired of the trend, but I definitely see why it's an easy option for filmmakers

Anywho, this exact one is weird. It seems to be unrelated to Blood and Honey, whose team is also making a shared crossover (known as the Poohniverse), so it does feel a bit unoriginal this team is also doing Pooh. Feels very low hanging fruit at this point. At least try and attempt a different character if you're gonna do this

 

[Princess Viola]

That's one of the unfortunate downsides to when something popular falls into the public domain: for the first few years after it becomes public domain, most of what you're going to get is low-effort and cheap schlock like these horror movies because making something actually good takes time but making something to cash in on the whole 'this character is public domain now' craze? Yeah, pretty much no time at all.

I'm pretty sure Pluto is falling into the public domain in a few years and I guarantee the first things we get with him as a public domain character will be some cheap schlocky slasher horror movie where the killer is some insane Mickey Mouse and Pluto is his violent and rabid dog he has attack his victims or whatever.

 

[indigohex3]

To be fair, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey did "pretty well" at the Golden Raspberry Awards "winning" several awards, including Worst Picture (in fact, it "won" 5 awards such as "Worst Picture", "Worst Screen Combo", "Worst Remake, Rip-off or Sequel", "Worst Director" and "Worst Screenplay" (44th Golden Raspberry Awards - Wikipedia). If this happens, expect the proposed film to dominate the Razzies to such an extent that it could be equal to Jack and Jill (which "won" every award in 2011).

 

[Welkamo]

The shock of "ooooh kid/family thing but it's a slasher horror" is so overplayed nowadays. Does everything really need to be dark and edgy?

I, for one, think that the real subversion would be to take recently public domain horror characters and put them in a wholesome setting. Coming of age high school Frankenstein... wait that's already been done.

 

[Archaic]

To be fair, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey did "pretty well" at the Golden Raspberry Awards "winning" several awards, including Worst Picture (in fact, it "won" 5 awards such as "Worst Picture", "Worst Screen Combo", "Worst Remake, Rip-off or Sequel", "Worst Director" and "Worst Screenplay" (44th Golden Raspberry Awards - Wikipedia). If this happens, expect the proposed film to dominate the Razzies to such an extent that it could be equal to Jack and Jill (which "won" every award in 2011).

I mean, there's the issue right there:

• If bad films with small budgets do well enough to make their money back, there's no incentive for film makers to be more creative with public domain characters
• If films with public domain characters are universally low budget bad films made to cash in on the characters, filmgoers are going to start associating works using public domain characters as C tier or worse, making it harder for someone with an actual good idea to get a film made using the characters.

 

[Railgun]

Man, reading this thread makes me fear when Superman and Batman will be public domain. I love superheroes and seeing them involved in some cheesy low budget horror flick gives me the ick, lol.

 

[Archaic]

Man, reading this thread makes me fear when Superman and Batman will be public domain. I love superheroes and seeing them involved in some cheesy low budget horror flick gives me the ick, lol.

Honestly, considering how many cheesy, low budget comic books those characters have already been in, I wouldn't worry about it too much. There's enough edgelord content in official books from the past few decades that this sort of experimentation has already run its course with those characters.

 

[Blanc]

using a cutesy franchise but making it twisted and screwed up, can be easy way to turn heads and give them as much publicity as possible, boosting potential profits to what's already a pretty cheap endeavor. I'm also getting tired of the trend, but I definitely see why it's an easy option for filmmakers

This yeah, using a well-known IP for shock horror is an easy way to turn heads and get people to go see it, it's nothing short of a cheap cash grab-- not to mention the whole 'turning childhood innocent concept into something fucked up' is really popular rn. I'm a pretty decent fan of slasher horror, and even I'm pretty peeved about stuff like this because it just feels a tad soulless.

On one hand, I get it for indie film makers it may feel like the only move if they're that scared their movies won't breakeven, that maybe the only way to get the film off the ground is to shoehorn in a known IP... but I'd rather us not have to resort to such things consistently.

That said, I don't super mind the influx of childhood-concept-turned-horror we're getting these days, but I don't really see it done as creatively as I'd like.

 

[Princess Viola]

Actually you know what all of this shit reminds me of?

Those dumb fan theories about children's shows that try and pretend that they're actually super dark like all the characters are dead and it's an allegory for Hell or the main character is in a coma/in a mental institution and the whole series is just a dream/a delusion.

 

[Daren]

I used to be curious what was gonna happen when The Hobbit was in public domain but Lord of the Rings wasn't but now it seems we'll just get Bilbo as a serial killer, which isn't just stupid but also boring.

 

[Antiyonder]

Best I can say is movies or otherwise, pour your time and money into stuff you like.

 

[Pigrider09]

Gosh imagine what this will be like when 80s ip reaches public domain. It’s a long ways away but I don’t think I could handle the horrible creations like “He-Man: Butcherer of Men”, or whatever they come up with. Idk I’m not a big fan of horror so this’ll just be something that I gawk at for a bit then forget about.