The giant stuffed bear, its face a twisted smile, lumbers across the screen. Menacing music swells. Shadows mask unknown threats. Christopher Robin begs for his life. And is that a sledgehammer about to pulverize a minor character鈥檚 head?
Thus unfolds the for the 2023 movie 鈥淲innie the Pooh: Blood and Honey,鈥 a slasher-film riff on A.A. Milne鈥檚 beloved characters, brought to you by 鈥 the expiration of copyright and the arrival of the classic children鈥檚 novel into the American public domain.
We were already living in an era teeming with remixes and repurposing, fan fictions and mashups. Then began a parade of characters and stories, led by and with many more to follow, marching into the public domain, where anyone can do anything with anything and shape it into a new generation of stories and ideas.
After a two-decade drought brought on by congressional extensions of the copyright period in 1998, works again began entering the public domain 鈥 becoming available for use without licensing or payment 鈥 in 2019. The public began to notice in 2022, when was freed for use as the 95-year copyright period elapsed on the novel that introduced him.
That made possible 鈥 鈥 not to mention a sequel that dropped last month, a forthcoming third and plans for a 鈥 鈥 of twisted public domain characters including Bambi and Pinocchio. Pooh going public was followed this year by a moment many thought would never come: the copyright expiration on the original version of Mickey Mouse, as he appeared in the 1928 Walt Disney short, 鈥淪teamboat Willie.鈥
The mouse and the bear are but the beginning. The heights of 20th century pop culture 鈥 Superman among them 鈥 lie ahead.
Classic characters, new stories, fresh mashups. Will it be all be a bonanza for makers? Are we entering a heyday of cross-generational collaboration or a plummet in intellectual property values as audiences get sick of seeing variations of the same old stories?
Does a murderous Pooh bear have something to show the 21st century entertainment world?
COULD THIS MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE?
Films from Hollywood鈥檚 early talkie era have started to become public. King Kong, who has one of his enormous feet in the public domain already because of complications between companies that own a piece of him, will shed his remaining chains in 2029. Then, in the 2030s, Superman will soar into the public domain, followed in quick succession by Batman, the Joker and Wonder Woman.
The possibility of new stories is vast. So is the possibility of repetition. Classic stories and characters could get, well a bit tiresome.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel like it鈥檚 going to make that big a difference,鈥 says Phil Johnston, an Oscar nominee who co-wrote Disney鈥檚 2011 鈥淲reck It-Ralph鈥 and co-wrote and co-directed its sequel, 2018鈥檚 鈥淩alph Breaks the Internet.鈥
鈥淟ike, 鈥榃innie the Pooh Blood and Honey鈥 was was a novelty, made a bit of a splash, I guess. But if someone makes 鈥楽teamboat Willie鈥 (into) a jet ski movie or something, who cares?鈥 he says. 鈥淚f there鈥檚 some great new idea behind it, maybe. But there鈥檚 nothing I鈥檓 looking at where I鈥檓 thinking, 鈥極h, my God, now that 鈥橳he Jazz Singer鈥 is available, I鈥檓 going to redo that.鈥欌
Many creators were clearly anxious to do something with 鈥淭he Great Gatsby,鈥 which has been subject to several reinterpretations in very different flavors since it became public in 2021, says Jennifer Jenkins, a professor of law and .
鈥淲e have our feminist retellings of `The Great Gatsby鈥, where from her perspective, Daisy gets to tell the story from her perspective,鈥 Jenkins says. 鈥淲e got prequels, we got sequels, we鈥檝e got musicals, TV shows, we鈥檝e got because we always do. These are things that you can do with public domain work. These are things that you can do with with Mickey Mouse.鈥
But the newly available works and characters are arriving after years of parent corporations demanding that every creation be tied to their intellectual property. And with some big, 鈥 鈥-sized exceptions, the returns are growing thinner, and artists themselves are a little sick of it.
鈥淭he biggest limiting factor right now is that almost everything that anyone wants is has to be from existing IP,鈥 says Johnston, whose newest project is an animated adaptation of Roald Dahl鈥檚 鈥淭he Twits鈥 for Netflix. 鈥滱nd that that the notion of an original idea is somehow scary, certainly to a marketing entity, because they just have to work harder to get it into the public鈥檚 consciousness. That鈥檚 the bummer.鈥
And while Shakespeare, Dickens and Austen have been public-domain gold mines at various times, other properties have proven more problematic. The forthcoming 鈥 ,鈥 starring and Cynthia Erivo, will be yet another attempt at using the public-domain work of author Frank Baum鈥檚 Oz 鈥 filtered through a hit novel and Broadway show 鈥 to glom onto the classic status of the 1939 鈥淲izard of Oz鈥 film. Previous tries led to little success, and most were outright flops, most recently 2013鈥檚 鈥淥z the Great and Powerful,鈥 from Disney.
(In an odd quirk of the 鈥淲izard of Oz鈥 rights, the film鈥檚 most famous artifact, Dorothy鈥檚 , are still the intellectual property of MGM via the 1939 film. In Baum鈥檚 book, the shoes were silver.)
IN THE BEGINNING, DISNEY LED THE WAY WITH PUBLIC DOMAIN SUCCESS
Some of the most effective use ever of public domain properties came from Disney itself in its early decades, turning time-tested folktales and novels into modern classics with 鈥淪now White,鈥 鈥淧inocchio鈥 and 鈥淐inderella.鈥 It would later become the primary protector of the most valuable rights in entertainment, from the Marvel universe to the Star Wars galaxy to its homegrown content.
That has meant a major flowering through the years of fan art and fan fiction, with which the company has a mixed relationship.
鈥淲hen you look at how the Disney organization actually engages with fan art, there鈥檚 a lot of looking the other way,鈥 says , an author and activist who advocates for broader public ownership of works. 鈥淚 always thought that there was so much opportunity for collaboration that was being missed there.鈥
He gives as an example binders full of fan-fiction biographies of the ghosts at Disney World鈥檚 Haunted Mansion, maintained by the teens who work there, which he observed when working on a project with the company鈥檚 so-called Imagineers.
鈥淪ome of it actually is now part of the lore,鈥 Doctorow says. 鈥淚 think that creatively that is an organization that really embraces that. I think commercially it鈥檚 an organization that has really struggled with it.鈥
When the law extending copyright by 20 years passed in 1998, musicians including Bob Dylan were among the key figures who had implored Congress to act. Younger generations of musicians, who came up awash in sampling and remixing, made no discernible outcry for another extension. In part this could be because in the streaming era, many of them make little off recorded music.
Jimmy Tamborello, who records and performs electronic music under the name Dntel and as part of The Postal Service 鈥 a group whose very name caused trademark headaches with the official version at its inception 鈥 says artists are generally happy to allow others to turn their work into new things. The problem is companies that come between them, and get most of the financial benefit.
鈥淭here鈥檚 always a corporation involved,鈥 Tamborello says. 鈥淚 think no one would care if it was just artists to artists. I feel like it would be nice if it was more open, more free. It seems like it has more to do with respecting the original work.鈥
He says it was 鈥渞eally exciting鈥 when the rapper used his hook from The Postal Service鈥檚 best known song, 鈥淪uch Great Heights鈥 on a track released on YouTube and Soundcloud even before he made the proper legal arrangements to use it on an album.
Johnston says age and experience have made him feel less possessive about his own work.
鈥淓arlier in my career, everything was an affront. Everything made me angry and like, 鈥楾hat was that was my idea! I should have had credit for that!鈥欌 he says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to say I鈥檓 just easy and breezy about it, but I think there are so few truly original ideas. 鈥. We all kind of will have similar thoughts at a certain point. So it doesn鈥檛 particularly bother me.鈥
His attitude changes if the re-maker is not an artist but . That was a key issue in last year鈥檚 鈥 and is yet another facet of remix culture that, alongside copyright expirations, could change the faces of some of history鈥檚 most renowned characters in ways no one has ever considered.
鈥淚f a writer feels for me, it鈥檚 fine,鈥 Johnston says. 鈥淚f an AI steals from me, that sucks.鈥
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