Two years ago, when it was announced that Winnie the Pooh was being reimagined as a horror film, the internet understandably went into a frenzy. Although The Walt Disney Company had attempted to take the character into more adult territory itself with the 2018 film Christopher Robin, no one believed one of the most beloved literary characters of the last century could become nightmare fuel.
That reimagining, dubbed Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, came as a result of a lapse in copyright when the character officially entered the public domain in 2022. While it seemed like a one-off project, and received negative reception, it was a success. No matter how absurd the idea seemed, it generated enough buzz and box office revenue to spark a literal universe (or as it has since been referred to: the Poohniverse). So it was only a matter of time before someone else tried to replicate that success.
That someone is Simon Phillips, who wrote, produced and stars in the the new film The Mouse Trap. Billed as the first film to feature the the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse since it entered the public domain, it follows a group of teens trapped and taunted by a masked killer at an amusement park and arcade. Wearing a Steamboat Willie mask, the killer is heavily implied to be some sort of sinister version of the character.
While you can read our full review for the film here, Phillips sat down to chat with our Editor-in-Chief Dempsey Pillot (again). One of the things they spoke about was some changes made to the film to avoid the possibility of any legal issues with The Walt Disney Company. If you’ve been following the film since it was announced at the beginning of the year, you’ll notice one of those changes was the title.
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Originally titled Mickey’s Mouse Trap, the film has now erased any connection to Disney’s mascot altogether. It was released as The Mouse Trap. When asked about the change, Phillips said, “We could have kept the old title, but the insurance guy would be happier if we changed it…It was it was the one hit we took.”
That simple setback didn’t stop Phillips and company from taking some other swings with their film. For example, it begins with a familiar looking opening title sequence. While some might say it’s reminiscent of Star Wars, Phillips says it’s just “generic space scroll,” the editor had access to.
While the film’s biggest gimmick is it’s semi-association to the House of Mouse, Phillips says that it was never planned to be a one-off.
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“We did obviously envision that there will be more of this story, and the universe would get slightly bigger,” he said. When asked if we could expect darker versions of Donald Duck or Goofy to appear in a potential sequel, he teased the arrival of someone else: Minnie Mouse.
Pointing to a specific female character’s fate, he said, “Without saying what she will become, if we looked at a Harley Quinn and Joker type trajectory for this, you know, where I’m going…”
But a sequel to this film isn’t the only project that’s in the cards for Phillips and his production company. With so many other popular characters entering the public domain in the next few years, he said”the next decade is certainly very interesting cinematic landscape.”
“Over the next 10 years, like Superman [will] drop. Batman drops in around 20. There’s a bunch of characters that are coming…There’s gonna be a reboot or renaissance of all these characters. I don’t know where that goes, but I’m very interested.”
The Mouse Trap is available on VOD now, and will be available to purchase on Blu-ray and DVD this Friday.
You can check out the full interview below!
