Countdown

Mickey Mouse 100th Anniversary

Name: Mickey Mouse 100th Anniversary
Start: 2028-11-18
Location: United States

Saturday, November 18, 2028 · 744 days away

United States Anniversaryscheduled

Countdown

743

Days

Hours

Min

Sec

Reminders

Discord

Event overview

Centennial of Steamboat Willie's premiere at the Colony Theatre on 18 November 1928 — the first sound-synced Mickey Mouse cartoon, now the iconic version of Mickey that entered the US public domain on 1 January 2024 while Disney retains trademark on Mickey-as-brand.

Date: 2028-11-18
Country / jurisdiction: United States
Region: United States
Category: Anniversary
Status: scheduled

Confirmation checklist

Before you act on this countdown

Use the timer for orientation, then run through these checks before booking, publishing, buying tickets, scheduling alerts, or moving operations around this date.

Date signal

The date is suitable for countdown use, with the source still owning late changes.

Local time

No reliable start time is attached yet, so this page stays date-first instead of implying midnight.

Calendar action

Add it to a calendar after checking the source for time, venue, or access changes.

Next useful path

Use Anniversary, 2028, or United States paths below to compare related countdowns before deciding what to watch next.

Source trail

Source trail for Mickey Mouse 100th Anniversary

Verify source

Primary source

thewaltdisneycompany.com

Last reviewed

2026-04-30

Tracker status

scheduled

Date precision

Single-date event without a reliable public start time; date-first countdown only.

Schema posture

Event structured data is emitted because the record is single-date and scheduled or confirmed.

This is an expected date. Use reminders and monitoring, but verify the source before making travel, purchase, publication, or staffing decisions.

Primary citation

The current date signal points to thewaltdisneycompany.com. The source URL is shown visibly on the page so readers can verify late changes instead of relying only on the timer.

Freshness and review

Source policy was reviewed on 2026-04-30. Live countdown values are render-time snapshots; editorial source fields update when the tracked event dataset changes.

Operational detail

The record does not carry a reliable public start time yet, so the page avoids implying a midnight or all-day start.

Weak-date handling

The page can support calendar actions and Event schema, while still telling readers to check the source for operational changes.

What this countdown tracks

The 100th anniversary of Mickey Mouse — Saturday 18 November 2028 — counted from the premiere of *Steamboat Willie* at the Colony Theatre on Broadway in New York City on 18 November 1928. The Walt Disney Company recognises that date as Mickey's official birthday. The centennial is the first round-number Mickey anniversary to occur after *Steamboat Willie* and the original 1928 Mickey design entered the United States public domain on 1 January 2024.

About the anniversary

*Steamboat Willie* was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon released with synchronised sound, produced by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at the Disney Brothers Studio on Hyperion Avenue in Los Angeles. It was not the first sound cartoon — that distinction belongs to *Dinner Time* — but its commercial success and inventive sound-on-film synchronisation made it the watershed work of the early sound-cartoon era. By the early 1930s Mickey was a global icon, anchoring the Disney studio's expansion through *Plane Crazy*, *The Karnival Kid* (Mickey's first speaking role), the Silly Symphonies, *Snow White*, the parks, and the entire post-war IP empire built atop his ears.

The legal twist for the centennial is the staggered public-domain status. The *Steamboat Willie* version of Mickey is now public domain in the US. Later Mickeys — gloved, red-shorted, modern-cheery, sorcerer-apprentice — remain copyrighted. Disney retains a separate trademark registration on Mickey-as-brand. The 2024–2028 window has produced a flood of *Steamboat Willie* horror films, indie remixes, NFTs and merchandise — but nothing that uses the modern Mickey design without licence.

Significance

First major IP centennial under modern copyright after a high-profile public-domain expiration.
Disney is expected to mount a yearlong global celebration: park overlays, a feature film, retrospectives at Lincoln Center and the BFI, and a US Postal Service commemorative stamp.
The legal boundary between expired-copyright Mickey and registered-trademark Mickey will be tested by aggressive third-party uses during the anniversary window.

Past anniversaries

90th (2018) — *Get a Horse!* short, D23 retrospectives, Mickey: The True Original Exhibition in NYC.
75th (2003) — Mickey Avenue at Walt Disney Studios Park, French postal stamp series.
50th (1978) — first character to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

How to follow

The Walt Disney Company press room (thewaltdisneycompany.com), D23 (the official Disney fan club), the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, and the Walt Disney Archives at Burbank publish anniversary programming. Expect simultaneous events at Disneyland Anaheim, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disney Resort.

Pair Mickey's centennial with the 100th Academy Awards on ABC, the Apple Computer 50th anniversary and the LA28 Olympics opening ceremony for the 2026–2028 American cultural-centennial cluster.

FAQ

When is Mickey Mouse's 100th anniversary? 18 November 2028. Is Mickey in the public domain? The *Steamboat Willie* version is, since 1 January 2024; later Mickeys remain copyrighted. Does Disney still own Mickey? Yes — Disney holds active trademarks, which do not expire as long as they are used in commerce. Where did Steamboat Willie premiere? The Colony Theatre, Broadway, New York, 18 November 1928.

Date confidence

Scheduled date

Mickey Mouse 100th Anniversary is tracked as a scheduled event. The date is suitable for countdown and calendar use, while final logistics should still be checked against the linked source.

Source

https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-history/

Source host: thewaltdisneycompany.com
Date precision: Single scheduled date from the linked source
Schema posture: Event startDate emitted because the record is single-date and scheduled/confirmed
Planning boundary: Use as a monitoring aid until the source trail is stronger

Structured data posture

This page emits Event structured data because the tracked record has a single scheduled or confirmed date. The linked source remains the final reference for time, venue, and operational changes.

Countdown evidence

Retention class

Date-first scheduled countdown

Evidence score

5/10 record signals

City-page readiness

Held to date-first

Evidence score5/10 signals present: primary source URL; tracked date; schema-safe date; place context; related event cluster
Date and schemaSchema-safe single date: Single-date event without a reliable public start time; date-first countdown only. Event structured data is emitted because the record is single-date and scheduled or confirmed.
Local-time readinessDate-first only: The record is not used as a city-local event page until it has a reliable time, timezone, and non-windowed date.
Record completeness1 concrete fields: country United States
Weak-field watchlist4 fields to improve: verified public start time; venue; manual official-source note; historical sequence
Source freshnessthewaltdisneycompany.com; reviewed 2026-04-30: Related crawl path: Thanksgiving (US) 2028, 26/11 Mumbai Attacks 20th Anniversary, US 2028 Presidential Election, Bhopal Gas Tragedy 44th Anniversary.

Planning notes

How to use this Mickey Mouse 100th Anniversary countdown

Countdown pages are useful when they are honest about what is known, what is merely expected, and what still needs checking. This page keeps the live timer separate from the source confidence and structured-data posture.

Date confidence

Mickey Mouse 100th Anniversary is tracked as scheduled for Saturday, November 18, 2028; the countdown can support reminders while final logistics still belong to thewaltdisneycompany.com. The page can emit precise Event structured data because the tracked record has a single scheduled or confirmed date.

What could change

Watch for date shifts, venue or access updates, broadcast windows, registration rules, and source corrections. The current precision is: Single-date event without a reliable public start time; date-first countdown only..

Local-time usefulness

No reliable source start time is attached yet, so the page stays date-first and avoids implying a midnight start. 744 days remain at render time.

Category context

Mickey Mouse 100th Anniversary sits in Anniversary with country United States. Related countdown links should help users compare similar events, not create unverified event-city pages.

Catalog-specific details

No creator, platform, league, brand, fixture, family, or alternate-name detail is attached to this event record.

Series and expectation notes

No series history, end date, or what-to-expect field is attached.

Priority note

This page is kept specific through source confidence, category, region, date precision, and update notes rather than generic countdown filler.

Verification trail

source URL https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-history/. trust checks: Source host: thewaltdisneycompany.com, Date precision: Single scheduled date from the linked source, Schema posture: Event startDate emitted because the record is single-date and scheduled/confirmed, and Planning boundary: Use as a monitoring aid until the source trail is stronger. no manual editorial context is attached yet.

Record completeness

present fields: country United States. missing or weak fields: verified public start time, venue, manual official-source note, and historical sequence

Related crawl path

Nearby retained events: Thanksgiving (US) 2028, 26/11 Mumbai Attacks 20th Anniversary, US 2028 Presidential Election, Bhopal Gas Tragedy 44th Anniversary, and AWS re:Invent 2028. These links should support topical discovery without creating unverified event-city pages.

Review boundary: this page tracks the public date signal, source link, category, region, and calendar posture. It does not replace official ticketing, exchange, broadcaster, organizer, court, regulator, or government notices.

Source reviewed Apr 30, 2026. The countdown record is intentionally labeled as scheduled or expected; use the source link and any range notes before treating the date as final.

Live values rendered at Nov 5, 8:18 PM UTC.

Related planning pages

Countdown hubAll currently tracked countdowns.Anniversary countdownsRelated events in this category.2028 countdownsEvents tracked for the same calendar year.United States countdownsRegion-specific countdown pages.SourcesHow we cite and review date sources.Speculative datesHow expected and windowed dates are labeled.

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