Popeye, Tintin to enter public domain in 2025

Creators will have the right to use the original cartoon characters in any way they see fit next week after their 95-year-old copyrights expire. Popeye and Tintin are among thousands of comic characters, books, songs, and films from 1929 that will enter the public domain in 2025. Sound recordings from 1924 will also enter the public domain, including the clip in which Mickey Mouse first uttered the words “Hot dogs!” Disney’s iconic mouse entered the public domain last year.

What else is entering the public domain in 2025? Ernest Hemingway’s novels A Farewell to Arms and A Room of One’s Own will also lose their copyrights. Some books by William Faulkner and John Steinbeck will also enter the public domain next week, alongside Alfred Hitchcock’s first sound movie Blackmail. The song “Singin’ in the Rain,” which debuted in the film The Hollywood Revue, will also lose its copyright.

Dig deeper: Read Bekah McCallum’s report about the earliest version of Mickey Mouse entering the public domain.