You may have been lucky enough to avoid the gruesome Winnie the Pooh horror movies of the last couple of years, but there are more such irreverent delights to come as more intellectual property loses copyright protection in 2025. A host of famous artworks and much-loved characters will enter the public realm next year, making them fair game for all kinds of adaptations.
Last year, Mickey Mouse was the biggest star to come out of copyright (with a few caveats). So what's coming in 2025? A gruesome Popeye the Sailor for starters (that looks set to be almost as controversial as the Snow White remake).
What copyrights expire in 2025?
Copyright rules vary from country to country and have changed over time. In the US, works created between 1929 and 1963 that gave notice and renewed copyright have 95 years from their first publication date. That means that from next year, a host of works from 1929 will enter the public domain.
This means that copyright will expire on Buck Rogers, Captain Easy, Horace Horsecollar, Tintin, Hal Foster's first Tarzan comic strips and, yes, Popeye. In art, Salvador Dalí’s The Great Masturbator and Kandinsky’s Upward will enter the public realm, and in film, the Marx Brothers’ first, The Cocoanuts, and MGM’s The Broadway Melody become available.
Sound recordings published in 1924 will come out of copyright too. In the European Union, artworks lose copyright 70 years after the death of their creator, which means that paintings by Henri Matisse and Frida Kahlo will fair game as they both died in 1954.
As for Popeye, ITN the studios, the same people that brought us the Winnie the Pooh horrors, have been quick of the mark again. They're promising a “raunchy and gory" Popeye slasher from Rene August directed by William Stead. Ahoy!
