Here are some new public domain titles that could become horror movies in 2025

In 1787, the founding fathers agreed that copyrights should only last for a limited amount of time in order to “promote the progress of science and useful arts.” Over two centuries later, that life-cycle now includes at least one requisite low-budget horror flick casting the newly available character as a bloodthirsty murderer. Probably not the exact sort of “useful art” the Constitutional Convention was thinking of, but progress nonetheless! 

There are a ton of new characters, books, films, and songs joining Mickey Mouse and Winnie The Pooh in the public domain grab-bag this year. Copyrights for creative works typically last 95 years, which means most things published in 1929 are now available for serial killer-ification. (It also means the entire decade of the 1920s is officially up for grabs.) Tintin and Popeye are both now available, neither of whom seem like big jumps. (Tintin has traveled both to space and the bottom of the ocean—he’s definitely seen some things.)

Some major works of literature have also become available, including William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms (perhaps a body-horror film?), and Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own (a Misery riff just waiting to happen). Mickey’s first talking appearance is also available (via The Karnival Kid) as well as the Marx Brothers’ first feature film, The Cocoanuts, Alfred Hitchcock’s first sound film, Blackmail, and Disney’s first Silly Symphony short, “The Skeleton Dance.” 

You can check out some more notable works that have officially entered the public domain, via Entertainment Weekly, below: 

Books

William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury

Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon (as serialized in Black Mask magazine)

Patrick Hamilton, Rope

Arthur Wesley Wheen, the first English translation of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Agatha Christie, Seven Dials Mystery

Robert Graves, Good-bye to All That

Films

A dozen more Mickey Mouse animations

The Cocoanuts, directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley

The Broadway Melody, directed by Harry Beaumont

The Hollywood Revue of 1929, directed by Charles Reisner (featuring the song “Singin’ in the Rain”)

“The Skeleton Dance,” directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks

Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Hallelujah, directed by King Vidor

The Wild Party, directed by Dorothy Arzner

Welcome Danger, directed by Clyde Bruckman and Malcolm St. Clair

On With the Show, directed by Alan Crosland

Pandora’s Box (Die Büchse der Pandora), directed by G.W. Pabst|

Show Boat, directed by Harry A. Pollard

Characters

C. Segar, Popeye (in “Gobs of Work” from the Thimble Theatre comic strip)

Hergé (Georges Remi), Tintin (in “Les Aventures de Tintin” from the magazine Le Petit Vingtième)

Musical Compositions

“Singin’ in the Rain,” lyrics by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown

“Ain’t Misbehavin’,” lyrics by Andy Paul Razaf, music by Thomas W. (“Fats”) Waller & Harry Brooks 

“An American in Paris,” George Gershwin

“Boléro,” Maurice Ravel

“(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue,” lyrics by Andy Paul Razaf, music by Thomas W. “Fats” Waller & Harry Brooks 

“Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” lyrics by Alfred Dubin, music by Joseph Burke

“Happy Days Are Here Again,” lyrics by Jack Yellen, music by Milton Ager

“What Is This Thing Called Love?,” by Cole Porter

“Am I Blue?,” lyrics by Grant Clarke, music by Harry Akst

“You Were Meant for Me,” lyrics by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown

“Honey,” lyrics and music by Seymour Simons, Haven Gillespie, and Richard A. Whiting

“Waiting for a Train,” lyrics and music by Jimmie Rodgers