Betty Boop is about to swap "boop-oop-a-doop" for bloodshed. A new low-budget horror film titled simply Boop will turn the 1930s cartoon flapper into a vengeful killer, part of the fast-growing "public domain horror" trend that's turning once-wholesome icons into slasher villains, the Telegraph reports. The movie, shot in late 2025 ahead of Betty's entry into the public domain on Jan. 1, follows a group of podcasters exploring an abandoned theater who are hunted by a ghostly, forgotten version of the character. She joins a roster that already includes homicidal takes on Winnie the Pooh, Bambi, and Steamboat Willie-era Mickey Mouse.
Producers say they're pitching Boop as a feminist revenge story, not just a gore-soaked cash-in. Co-producer Jessica Russo calls it "a true testament to feminism," arguing that the film reframes Betty as a sidelined star reclaiming her power after a brush with fame and decades of neglect. That angle leans on the character's early cartoons, which often showed her fending off sexual harassment—from a leering chess-piece king in 1932's Chess-Nuts to a coercive ringmaster in Boop-Oop-a-Doop. In the new film, those dynamics are reimagined as the backstory for a rage-fueled haunting.
The project is one of many capitalizing on 95-year US copyright terms that are now expiring for pre-1930 creations. Winnie-the-Pooh slipped into the public domain in 2023, followed by the original black-and-white Mickey Mouse in 2024, prompting indie horror filmmakers to rush out titles like Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey—made for $60,000 and grossing around $5 million—and Steamboat Willie–inspired slashers such as Screamboat and Mouse of Horrors. Directors say the formula is simple: low budgets, built-in name recognition, and headlines practically guaranteed.
There are limits. Only Betty's earliest, more risqué incarnation is free to use; later, toned-down redesigns and corporate mascots like modern Mickey remain tightly controlled. That forces filmmakers to walk a legal tightrope: Evoke nostalgia without copying trademarked details or confusing audiences into thinking Disney is involved. With Goofy, Pluto, King Kong, and more characters nearing the public domain, producers are already eyeing a wave of sequels and crossovers. "Trust me, this is only the beginning," said co-producer Jarrett Furst, per Deadline.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
