Disney is, without a doubt, the greatest dreamer of the 20th century — Mickey Mouse and friends have dominated the childhood of nearly a hundred years for almost every child.
Earlier dreamers in China. Five hundred years ago, The Ming Dynasty novelist Wu Cheng'en's Sun Wukong became the most popular heroic character in the world.
Why have Mickey Mouse and Sun Monkey endured for a long time, and there are few rising stars so far? We explore this issue with you in a series of articles.
91-year-old Mickey is still childlike, and the 78-year-old Dumbo is still cute.
But the copyrights of their earliest versions are in danger of expiring, so how does Disney protect these roots-like IPs? Will they survive the unique IP midlife crisis?
<h1>Never let go of Mickey, starting with changing the law</h1>
▲ Disney Classic Statue: Walt Disney holding Mickey's hand, image from Walt Disney World
Everyone says that Disney is a "copyright maniac", but their legal counsel can not only win in copyright cases, but also vigorously promote the reform of the US Copyright Law.
In 1928, Disney released the first ever sound animation "Steamboat Willie", in which Mickey whistled and drove the ship became a hit. The day the film was released (November 18) was also officially designated as Mickey's birthday.
Mickey in "Steamboat Willie", picture from Giphy
Originally, the U.S. Copyright Act only gave copyright a 56-year term of protection, which means that Steamboat Mickey should have expired in 1984.
In order to save Mickey, Disney lobbied the government to extend the copyright protection period.
In 1976 and 1997, Disney and other companies successfully persuaded the U.S. government to twice adjust the relevant bill to extend the protection of copyright to 95 years.
Among them, in 1997, the Copyright Extension Act, which renewed the copyright protection period for 20 years, was also given a flower name - the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.
▲ Mickey's copyright protection period and U.S. copyright law comparison, image from: Priceonomics
According to this bill, the copyright of "Steamboat" Mickey will expire in 2023, leaving only 4 years, why has disney action not been seen? It is very likely that the legal department will not move this time.
Why?
They know they can't win.
Ars Technica quoted James Grimmelmann, a copyright scholar at Cornell Law School, as saying. Different from before, the Internet community represented by Wikipedia, Reddit, Facebook, etc. has formed an anti-copyright over-protection force that cannot be ignored.
In 2012, the group beat out supporters such as Hollywood and record labels in opposition to the Internet Piracy Prohibition Act (SOPA). Therefore, Disney's chances of further intervention in the Copyright Act are much lower than before.
▲ Image from Giphy
As things stand, in addition to the Steamboat version of Mickey will expire in 2023, classic animations such as Donald Duck (2029), Goofy (2027), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (2032), Pinocchio (2035), Dumbo (2036) and Bambi (2037) and other classic animations and characters will gradually enter the public domain.
While changing the law may not work, Disney has other options.
<h1>Evolving IP</h1>
Some readers may notice that when I discussed the copyright of Mickey's image above, I emphasized that it was Mickey in the steamboat Willie version, because Mickey's image has been changing continuously for 91 years.
These changes are the changes made by Mickey and his friends with the changes in the aesthetics of the times.
▲ Image from Pinterest
At the same time, each version is an independent intellectual property property and a "soft continuation" of IP copyright.
Moreover, in addition to the actual ownership of copyright, the value of IP is also reflected in the strong connection with the brand.
That is, even if Mickey's copyright expires one day, when you see this white-gloved mouse, you will think of Disney, not Warner or Wanda.
▲ 2013 version of Mickey Animation, image from The Movie Database
Some people believe that last year, Disney celebrated Mickey's 90th birthday and launched a large number of peripherals with "classic Mickey", which is also a way to consolidate consumers' image of Mickey in the earlier era.
▲ Beats and Mickey co-branded, picture from Vman
The same applies to the classic animated image IP based on early fairy tale adaptations.
Classic animations such as "Snow White", "Pinocchio" and "Beauty and the Beast" are not only the ultimate embodiment of artistic craftsmanship, but also a successful example of strong brand association.
▲ "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", image from Medium
Although they are all based on fairy tales or folk tales, we may have been exposed to them before watching animation. But when you mention the names of these stories, how do you think about these animated images?
These exquisite animations are complemented by wide dissemination, so that the "Hamlets", who originally only live in text descriptions and are slightly different in everyone's imagination, have a unified "look". Disney, on the other hand, has become the real commercial interest in these stories.
▲ When you talk about fairy tales, do you think of them? Image courtesy of Of Myths and (Hu)
As the years passed, technology and society turned a page, and fairy tales began to look "old-fashioned".
As a result, Disney began to remake classic animation into live-action movies.
Since 2014's "Sleeping Curse," Disney has basically released live-action movies adapted from animation at a rate of one per year.
▲ "Sleeping Curse" is actually an alternative adaptation of the story of "Sleeping Princess", the picture is from "Variety"
This year, Disney's live-action movies have ushered in a big explosion, with a total of four: "Dumbo", "Aladdin", "The Lion King" and "Miss and the Tramp" (not in theaters, streaming Disney+).
These live-action films provide today's children with an "anachronistic" fairy tale "update": one is reflected in the film's use of the best CGI stunts, and the other is the iteration of values.
The old version of "Dumbo" ended with Dumbo becoming a circus star, selling a lot of tickets to make his mother's life better, while in the new version, Dumbo and his mother returned to the jungle, and the circus performance content became "technology-driven". This is more in line with today's values.
▲ Live-action version of Dumbo, picture from IMDb
Princess Jasmine in "Aladdin" eventually became the Sultan herself, creating a more independent female character than the original.
Aladdin, image from IMDb
These new images, while not lasting the old IP, can be used as a "replacement" for the old story.
And when the keyword "Aladdin" appeared on the hot search, everyone thought of either the new movie or the classic animation, that for Disney, how to win.
While the word-of-mouth and box office reviews of these films have been mixed, they do give the classic story a more modern "look" and ensure that for the next 95 years, kids who love these stories will be able to see exclusive live-action fairy tale movies on Disney+, continue to buy a variety of peripherals, and play in the park for a variety of experiences.
Film critic Owen Gleiberman wrote in Variety that people are afraid of Disney not only because it is getting bigger and bigger, but also because it has mastered our "dreams".
"Star Wars", Marvel, Avatar, these are the "myths" of modern people, "Aladdin", "Beauty and the Beast", "Mulan" and other stories are the old "myths" that have undergone the baptism of time and remained to this day. The previously released "Lion King" "True Lion" version of the movie also shows the vitality that Disney can bring to these classic stories under the most cutting-edge technology.
<h1>Build a universe with your surroundings</h1>
In the past decade or so, Disney has undergone a lot of changes.
First, Mickey, Donald Duck, and the Princesses "gave" more attention to the silver screen to new friends brought by Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm acquired by CEO Bob Iger, breaking Disney's original audience gap of more women and children.
▲Avengers 4, image from Comic Book Movie
Missing the big screen, Mickey and his friends have instead developed a "universe" of their own in the form of peripherals.
Just walk into the Disney Store and you'll discover how rich their variants can be.
▲ Image from PYMNT
There is a thick "sit" series.
The "Disney Baby" series, which is as cute as a baby.
▲ Image from fanpop
There is also the "Tsum Tsum" series that many people like to collect.
▲ I'm afraid it's a "pine pine" that will never be collected, the image is from ShopDisney/Pinterest
The toy series was first released in Japan, but was later promoted to the global market by Disney due to its popularity.
▲ IP is popular to produce toys, but toys can also have their own animations, GIFs taken from Disney Youtube
"Pine Pine" itself seems to have become an IP, in addition to Mickey and friends also included Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar characters, with 3 seasons of independent original short film content, this year will also launch the same theme Switch game and special edition color match switch.
▲ Two companies with the strongest legal counsel on the surface have joined forces, image from Kocpc
Behind these different images are countless style manuals from Disney's creative and product design departments for different series, including character settings, matching fonts, and detailed color numbers.
Each set of visual images has its own specific target group.
Partners with greater freedom still need to work with Disney's creative department to control the "degree of change" of the IP image.
▲ We can see different Mickey in the tide card, the picture is from ShoeGaze
According to statistics, Mickey and his friends can bring at least 3.2 billion yuan in sales revenue to Disney every year, and this still excludes sales in Disneyland and its own stores.
▲ Disney's current CEOs, Bob Iger and Mickey, image from CNBC
The Disney princesses, on the other hand, are so popular that Disney has set up a "Disney Princess" series for them, composed of more than a dozen animated heroines, launching costumes, games, books and other peripherals, and breaking through $1 billion in revenue three years after its launch.
▲ Some netizens guessed that the heroine of "Invincible Destruction King", Yunnellope, may also join the "Disney Princess" brigade, the picture is from IMDb
These meticulous usage rules and the official cooperation model allow Disney to maintain tight control over the IP while expanding the diversity of characters with confidence (nothing worse than finding that the peripheral details of the purchase do not match the characters).
It can be said that although these IPs that have become classics are rarely active on the screen, we can see them everywhere in our lives and have diverse images. Every fan can find the version they like.
At the beginning of the article, I mentioned that this is a "midlife crisis" unique to Disney IP.
Because, in the recent business history, there are very few IP characters like Mickey and classic animation that can last for eighty or ninety years and still have a strong commercial vitality, so that it is necessary to consider issues such as copyright expiration.
Because of this, Disney's ability to maintain the vitality of these "elderly" IP also reflects the true strength of "IP high play".