Various Iconic Works, Including Popeye and Disney's Skeleton Dance, Enter the Public Domain in 2025

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Various Iconic Works, Including Popeye and Disney's Skeleton Dance, Enter the Public Domain in 2025

Each new year brings forth fresh works entering the public domain. In 2025, notable additions include Disney titles like the chilling short film, The Skeleton Dance from the Silly Symphony series and the talkie, "Karnival Kid", featuring Mickey Mouse's voice for the first time. Both seem more suited for a chilling horror film—but no more shameless cash grabs in disguise as horror flicks, please. Instead, how about a high-end indie film adaptation of the spooktacular Skeleton Dance?

Additionally, early Popeye and Tintin's cartoons will also be up for grabs. Here's hoping that Genndy Tartakovsky will jump at the chance to bring his magic touch to Popeye through this opportunity (given the flood of Popeye slashers on the horizon). In relation to horror-themed music, "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" will also join the public domain, potentially casting fresh light on an Insidious spin-off idea.

Dig into the full list below, courtesy of Duke Law.

Books and plays

  • 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 (first serialized in Black Mask magazine)
  • John Steinbeck, Cup of Gold (Steinbeck's first novel)
  • Richard Hughes, A High Wind in Jamaica
  • Oliver La Farge, Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story
  • 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
  • E. B. White and James Thurber, Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You Do
  • Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet (only the original German version, Briefe an einen jungen Dichter)
  • Walter Lippmann, A Preface to Morals
  • Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee), The Roman Hat Mystery

Characters

  • E. C. Segar, Popeye (from the Thimble Theatre comic strip)
  • Hergé (Georges Remi), Tintin (from the magazine Le Petit Vingtième)

Movies

  • A dozen more Mickey Mouse animations (including Mickey's first talking appearance in The Karnival Kid)
  • The Cocoanuts, directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley (the first Marx Brothers feature film)
  • The Broadway Melody, directed by Harry Beaumont (winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture)
  • 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 (the first Silly Symphony short from Disney)
  • Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (Hitchcock's first sound film)
  • Hallelujah, directed by King Vidor (one of the first films from a major studio with an all-African-American cast)
  • The Wild Party, directed by Dorothy Arzner (Clara Bow's first "talkie")
  • Welcome Danger, directed by Clyde Bruckman and Malcolm St. Clair (the first full-sound comedy starring Harold Lloyd)
  • On With the Show, directed by Alan Crosland (the first all-talking, all-color, feature-length film)
  • Pandora's Box (Die Büchse der Pandora), directed by G.W. Pabst
  • Show Boat, directed by Harry A. Pollard (adaptation of the novel and musical)
  • The Black Watch, directed by John Ford (Ford's first sound film)
  • Spite Marriage, directed by Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton (Keaton's final silent feature)
  • Say It with Songs, directed by Lloyd Bacon (follow-up to The Jazz Singer and The Singing Fool)
  • Dynamite, directed by Cecil B. DeMille (DeMille's first sound film)
  • Gold Diggers of Broadway, directed Roy Del Ruth
  • "Rain Dancing", lyrics by an unknown artist, music by Arthur Freed's inspiration
  • "Misbehaving Without Apology", lyrics by Andy Paul Razaf's alter ego, music by Thomas W. (“Fats”) Waller & Harry Brooks (from the musical Warmed Cocoa)
  • "An American in Paris, Revisited", George Gershwin's modern interpretation
  • "Tango in the Shadows", Maurice Ravel's rhythmic masterpiece
  • "Why Am I Facing Consequences? (I'm Just) Black and Blue", lyrics by Andy Paul Razaf's frustrations, music by Thomas W. “Fats” Waller & Harry Brooks (a song about racial injustice from the musical Warmed Cocoa)
  • "Tiptoe Softly Through the Tulips", lyrics by Alfred Dubin's mind, music by Joseph Burke
  • "Great Days Are Ahead", lyrics by Jack Yellen's vision, music by Milton Ager (the theme song for Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1932 election campaign)
  • "What Is This Emotion Called Love?", by Cole Porter's dream world (from Porter's musical Awaken Your Dreams)
  • "I'm Feeling Blue", lyrics by Grant Clarke's emotions, music by Harry Akst
  • "You Were Meant for Me, Lover", lyrics by Arthur Freed's feelings, music by Nacio Herb Brown
  • "Sweet Honey", lyrics and music by Seymour Simons' sweet thoughts, Haven Gillespie's sweet melodies, and Richard A. Whiting's sweet harmony
  • "Waiting for a Railway Journey", lyrics and music by Jimmie Rodgers' anticipation

Need more io9 updates? Explore the anticipated releases of Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek. Learn about the future plans for the DC Universe on both film and TV. Also, keep yourself informed on the latest developments in the world of Doctor Who.

In the realm of future movie adaptations, the spooktacular animation "The Skeleton Dance" from Disney could benefit greatly from modern technology, potentially creating a high-end indie film that would captivate audiences at IO9. Furthermore, as horror-themed music enters the public domain, the prospect of an "Insidious" spin-off using "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" might intrigue moviegoers, sparking Io9's interest.

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