Mighty Mouse

Although Winnie the Pooh has been the top dog--uh, bear--for retailers over the past few years, Disney thinks it's time its chief inspiration regained his place as a consumer icon. In an effort to make Mickey Mouse more familiar to modern consumers, the rodent has resurfaced to captivate the Saturday morning cartoon audience. Disney's Mickey MouseWorks, which debuted on ABC in May, marks the first time in 46 years a full-time crew has brought the mouse back into series television.

"Everybody wants to see the new Mickey Mouse," says a spokesperson for Walt Disney Television Animation. "He still has that great personality everyone relates to." Mickey will also be hitting theaters with Walt Disney Pictures' Fantasia 2000, a feature-length film with six new animated segments and three original favorites from the 1940s classic. The visually and audibly intense extravaganza begins its 4-month engagement January 1, 2000, at IMAX theaters worldwide.

This article was originally published in the July 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Mighty Mouse.