Artists, books, films that will become free to use in 2024: Disney, Picasso, Tolkien

Every year a new set of works enters the public domain and becomes free for people to reuse for any purpose, depending on the copyright laws of your area.

The Public Domain Review, a nonprofit online journal, gathered the most prominent works that will enter the public domain next year, which were made by: 

• Copyright owners who died in 1953 for countries with a copyright term of “life plus 70 years” — including New Zealand, and most of Africa and Asia. 
• Copyright owners who died in 1973 for countries with a term of “life plus 50 years” — including New Zealand and most of Africa and Asia.
• Films and books (including artworks featured) published in 1928 for the United States.

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Most prominent works, films, books that will enter public domain in 2024

Here are some of the most prominent works entering the public domain in 2024:

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Films

• "October: Ten Days That Shook the World" directed by Sergei Eisenstein (entering public domain in the U.S.)
• Walt Disney’s "Steamboat Willie" (entering public domain in the U.S.)
• "The Passion of Joan of Arc" directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer (entering public domain in the U.S.)

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Novels, books, poetry

• Karl Blossfeldt’s "Urformen der Kunst" (entering public domain in the U.S.)
• Wanda Gág’s "Millions of Cats" (entering public domain in the U.S.)
• W. E. B. Du Bois’s "Dark Princess" (entering public domain in the U.S.)
• D. H. Lawrence’s "Lady Chatterley’s Lover" (entering public domain in the U.S.)
• André Breton’s "Nadja" (entering public domain in the U.S.)
• Siegfried Sassoon’s "Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man" (entering public domain in the U.S.)
• Evelyn Waugh’s "Decline and Fall" (entering public domain in the U.S.)
• Virginia Woolf’s "Orlando: A Biography" (entering public domain in the U.S.)
• A. A. Milne’s "The House at Pooh Corner" (entering public domain in the U.S.)
• Federico García Lorca’s "Gypsy Ballads" (entering public domain in the U.S.)

Artists, writers, filmmakers

• Pablo Picasso (entering public domain in countries with copyright of “life plus 50 years”)
• Dylan Thomas (entering public domain in countries with copyright of “life plus 70 years”)
• Cecil Hepworth (entering public domain in countries with copyright of “life plus 70 years”)
• J. R. R. Tolkien (entering public domain in countries with copyright of “life plus 50 years”)
• Edmund Dulac (entering public domain in countries with copyright of “life plus 70 years”)
• Hank Williams (entering public domain in countries with copyright of “life plus 70 years”)