Popeye Shiver Me Timbers Trailer: All you need to know about the upcoming slasher

Over the course of the past few years, several popular characters from television and movies have entered the public domain. This has been taking place because they were first published as far back as the 1920s and are now reaching the end of their respective copyright terms.

This means that an entire bank of universally recognized characters can now freely be used without any fear of copyright restrictions. They can also be used in inherently different genres and avatars than their previous iterations.

The first example of this came in 2023 when Winnie the Pooh was repurposed for horror in the campy but well-received Pooh: Blood and Honey. Clearly, this was a major departure from Pooh Bear’s roots as prior to this, he was portrayed as an affable personality on a children’s TV show.

Now, as of February 6, Popeye is the latest public domain character to be re-imagined in the context of the horror genre with the release of the trailer for the upcoming film Shiver Me Timbers.

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Shiver Me Timbers - What we know so far

Directed by Paul Mann, whose credits also include 2002’s Trance, the film follows the following synopsis,

“In Northern California during the summer of 1986, Olive Oyl, along with her cinema- obsessed friends and brother Castor, embark on a once-in-a-lifetime camping trip to witness the dazzling meteor shower accompanying the arrival of Halley’s comet. But what starts as a serene evening of stargazing quickly turns into a harrowing nightmare when a meteor from the comet transforms Popeye, into a terrifying and unstoppable killing machine. Blending classic slasher thrills with off-the-wall comedy, Shiver Me Timbers pays homage to ’80s horror while bringing Popeye into his most terrifying adventure yet.”

The film is set to balance classic 80s slasher tropes with a dark comedic twist. Shiver Me Timbers stars Tony Greer and David Hallows as Popeye, Paul Dwedney as Homeless George, Amy Mackie as Olive, Leona Roberts as Lizzy, Paul Stephen Mann as Det. Zanaletto, and more.

It is executive produced by Mann, Keith Montgomery, and Alastai Statha, with Eric Zapata serving as a producer. The film has been acquired by Gravitas Ventures, an Anthem Sports & Entertainment Company, for North America, with a scheduled release in April 2025.

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Other Popeye spinoff projects

The Cartoon Sailor already had two horror movies on the horizon. The first was last month’s Popeye's Revenge. The second, Popeye the Slayer Man, is yet to have a confirmed release date and has a markedly supernatural twist to it. In it, Popeye is depicted as a supernatural force haunting an abandoned spinach factory.

Shiver Me Timbers will be a huge departure from this, as it instead portrays the character in a more sympathetic tone and as more of a victim of his surroundings and subsequent state of affairs.