In 2025, the works unbound from copyright cap off the 1920s with literature, characters and more from 1929 entering the public domain.

It’s a new year, and that means more works are headed to the public domain. This year, thousands of copyrighted works created in 1929, including the earliest versions of Popeye and the Belgian comic book character Tintin, are now free to reuse and repurpose in the US.

More work from major writers, directors and musicians — along with legendary characters — entered the public domain to start 2025.

Last year, the original version of Mickey Mouse went into the public domain. That doesn’t mean that anyone can use Mickey Mouse’s image for whatever they want, but it does mean that the version of Mickey who first appeared in Walt Disney’s original Steamboat Willie cartoon is now fair game.

Public Domain Day, meaning artworks from 1929 (or 1924 in the case of sound recordings) are now free for all creators to use and abuse to their hearts' content. The works of art, music, literature, and film now entering the public domain will be yours,

Tintin, now in the Public Domain, gets a modern revival in The Big Lie, to be Kickstartered this year from Fabrice Sapolsky.

Walt Disney directed the iconic Skeleton Dance short animated by Ub Iwerks, as well as when Mickey Mouse starred in his first talkie. The intrepid Tintin and original Popeye characters have arrived in the public domain as well.

The original versions of Popeye and Tintin have now entered the public domain, leaving potential adaptation possibilities more open than ever.