It’s January 1, which means that another batch of copyrights has expired and given the horror filmmakers of the world the opportunity to transform beloved old characters into potential new murderers. (We haven’t forgotten what they did to Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh.) This year, the original versions of Popeye the Sailor and Tintin are among the characters entering the U.S. public domain. And some people have clearly been anticipating this moment: Jennifer Jenkins, the director of Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, told NPR last week that there are three Popeye slashers on the way. (Popeye the Slayer Man already put out a trailer last month.)
Jenkins’s center rounded up works from 1929 — and sound recordings from 1924 — that are free to use as of 2025. The list includes Walt Disney’s The Skeleton Dance, Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail, Arthur Freed’s “Singin’ in the Rain,” Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, William Faulkner’s The Sound and Fury, several Salvador Dali pieces, and more. Looking ahead, Betty Boop and Pluto are set to be on the copyright chopping block in 2026. What’s that saying? You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the star of a horror movie.
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