Mickey Mouse and Minnie will enter the public domain on Jan. 1, 2024. A true revolution: from then on, Disney will no longer enjoy an exclusive copyright over the earliest versions of the characters. Whoever wants – from cartoonists to filmmakers and satirists – will be free to do what they want with them.
Disney has always ferociously protected its copyright. For instance, in 1971 cartoonist Dan O’Neill authored an underground comic book where Mickey smuggled drug and performed oral sex (on Minnie). He hoped to get sued to make a cultural point – but after eight years in court he could not pay the fine and agreed never to draw Mickey Mouse again.
Franchises such as Topolino, the kids’ magazine in Italy edited since 1949 by Mondadori in cooperation with Disney, agreed to strict terms of what could or could not be depicted.
95 years after Mickey Mouse’s debut in the short film Steamboat Willie in 1928, the end of the copyright is also a symbolic milestone. Congress extended copyright terms in 1998, and since then, 20 years went by when nothing entered the public domain. 2019 was the year for the first works out of copyright again – of all kind, such as novels like The Great Gatsby, pieces of music like Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, beloved characters like Winnie the Pooh.
What’s in store for Mickey? What about Mickey and the Zombies? That’s a popular choice: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was a huge success in the long list of Jane Austen’s adaptations. The Great Gatsby Undead appeared on Amazon in 2021, followed by The Great Gatsby and the Zombies. Anything goes.
Get ready to see Mickey and Minnie in erotic strips or covered in gore – and other Disney characters will soon follow. Donald Duck’s first appearance was in The Wise Little Hen in 1934, only six more years to wait.
