As we step into a new year, countless works are entering the public domain. This year, a treasure trove of creations from 1929, including the original Popeye and the beloved Belgian character Tintin, are now available for reuse and adaptation in the US.
Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of Public Domain has compiled a list of iconic works freed from copyright, including sound recordings from 1924. Notably, 1929 marked a significant moment in cinema, being the first year to feature sound in films.
Among the works now in the public domain this year (you can view the full catalog here):
- The Skeleton Dance from Disney’s Silly Symphonies series
- Alfred Hitchcock’s first sound film Blackmail
- Nacio Herb Brown’s Singin’ in the Rain and its film debut in The Hollywood Revue of 1929
- On With the Show, the first all-talking feature-length film in color
- William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury
- Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials Mystery
- Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms
- Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own
- Works by Salvador Dali, including Illumined Pleasures, The Accommodations of Desire, and The Great Masturbator
Notably, Popeye, who debuted in E.C. Segar’s Thimble Theatre comic strip with the story “Gobs of Work,” is also included in this public domain collection. This early version of Popeye predates his famous spinach-eating habit, which began in 1932, although he still possessed considerable strength.
“All of his characteristics, personality, and sarcasm are now public domain,” stated Jennifer Jenkins, director of Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, in a NPR interview. “If you want to be cautious about the spinach, it might be best to wait.”
The iconic young reporter Tintin and his canine companion Snowy from Hergé’s Les Aventures de Tintin are also entering the public domain. However, due to EU copyright laws, which protect works for the author’s life plus 70 years, European audiences will have to wait until 2054 to enjoy a copyright-free Tintin, as Hergé passed away in 1983.
While these works could have entered the public domain sooner, copyright protections were extended in 1998, delaying the release of works from 1923 and later by an additional 20 years. This extension notably preserved Disney’s Mickey Mouse. Nevertheless, the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey has already entered the public domain as of last year, and more Mickey Mouse animations are set for release in 2025, including the short film The Karnival Kid, where Mickey speaks his first words: “hot dogs.”
Just like Mickey and Winnie the Pooh, we can expect to see new games and films featuring Popeye and Tintin as creators seek to capitalize on these characters’ newfound public domain status. Netflix is also gearing up to adapt Agatha Christie’s 1929 novel The Seven Dials Mystery.
Next year will bring an even broader array of classic characters into the public domain, with Betty Boop and Pluto set to join in 2026.
