Edit: I just learned that parody is part of fair use, so the first part of my comment is redundant. ~~I think that parody would be a far better defense than fa

Edit: I just learned that parody is part of fair use, so the first part of my comment is redundant. ~~I think that parody would be a far better defense than fair use.~~ But I otherwise agree that those gore movies based on children cartoons would probably be legal even before the original works had become public domain. At most, they might've required a tiny misspelling to be 100% legal and safe to sell. I mean, South Park already had a gore parody of Mickey Mouse[1] decades before Steamboat Willie went public domain. In fact, South Park's Mickey Mouse has traits from later movies, still copyrighted in 2024, like the eye shapes and the lack of a tail. That's why I'm unimpressed by these low quality gore parodies. What's actually going to be more exciting are the sincere animated adaptations that could be made from public domain stories, like del Toro's Pinocchio. [1] https://southpark.fandom.com/wiki/Mickey_Mouse https://southpark.fandom.com/wiki/Mickey_Mouse