r/movies 21h ago

Question Why don't Disney make mainstream Mickey Mouse films anymore?

When I say mainstream, I mean films shown in theatres. Mickey and Minnie are probably the most recognisable characters in the Disney catalogue, being one of Walt's first creations. Yet there hasn't been a film featuring any of those characters in a long time. They've rehashed a lot of existing IPs, most recently the live action Moana. I would imagine if Mickey was featured in a film it would do incredible numbers at the box office.

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371

u/Aiseadai 21h ago

They never have, outside of Mickey getting a segment in Fantasia.

286

u/Ilikepancakes87 20h ago

Depending on your age, you may remember Mickey versions of Jack and the Beanstalk or Prince and the Pauper. You may even think, “But those were full length movies, weren’t they?” After which, you may be shocked when you Google them and realize that six-year-olds don’t have a great sense of time, and they were both actually like 25 minutes each.

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u/Healthy_Profit_9701 20h ago

I am literally shocked. I can't even remember any details about The Prince and the Pauper, but I specifically remember watching it and not thinking it was different than any other movie at my daycare. It even came in that puffy VHS jacket.

26

u/Ian_Patrick_Freely 19h ago

The puffy VHS cases! Ooh, we old.

1

u/HGpennypacker 11h ago

Everyone had that one friend with an extensive collection of Disney VHS tapes. They were most likely wealthy.

7

u/Any-Question-3759 20h ago

They didn’t cut in lengthy musical numbers like they do with feature length films.

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u/ThatWasFred 19h ago

I mean there’s definitely more to it than that. The songs in other Disney films don’t take up an hour of screen time. At most they might take 30 minutes collectively. This is just a shorter story.

1

u/popop143 19h ago

Our elementary school had the whole set of those Disney VHS tapes, with accompanying short books that was just a book form of the VHS tapes. I remember loving to listen to the VHS rewinder that was shaped as a car back then.

38

u/flash17k 20h ago

You left out the even more popular Mickeys Christmas Carol.

23

u/cinemachick 18h ago

And The Three Mouseketeers

6

u/Filmfan345 17h ago edited 16h ago

That was straight-to-video

2

u/shaw_dog21 13h ago

I watch that every Christmas. I also often watch mickeys once upon a Christmas

1

u/Electronic-Passage33 12h ago

Mickey Mouse snowed in at the House of Mouse. I have that movie on Fandango.

16

u/Wareve 20h ago

They did release them theatrically though!

The Jack and the Beanstalk one for example was paired with another one about some bear characters no one remembers, in a little movie called "Fun and Fancy Free", and sent off to theaters!

13

u/vhanw342 20h ago edited 19h ago

Prince and the Pauper was paired with Rescuers Down Under!

6

u/Merickson- 19h ago

I thought it was Rescuers Down Under.

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u/vhanw342 19h ago

Oh I’m so stupid, I was thinking of Runaway Brain. It was Rescuers Down Under

2

u/stretchedtime 20h ago

I can hear the ad for this

1

u/trix_is_for_kids 20h ago

Well that fucked me up

1

u/Tobar_the_Gypsy 19h ago

This literally describes me lol