2023 is a big year for movies entering the public domain. Notable films coming out of copyright tomorrow include the first Academy Award Best Picture, Wings, Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer. Other notable directors with films entering the public domain tomorrow include F.W. Murnau, John Ford, Cecille B. DeMille and Alfred Hitchcock.
Full list here:
I agree. One of the reasons I point out every year the literary and film classics that are coming out of copyright is to raise awareness of what has been taken from the general public by special interests and their friends in the Congress and to prevent yet another extension of copyright terms to protect big media companies. Under a more rational system movies made in the Golden Age of Hollywood would already be out of copyright and we would be working our way through the '50s or '60s.
That said, as someone argued on Blu-ray.com the fact that they're still covered by copyright means there's an incentive for studios and labels to put the effort into restorations that allow them to look as good as possible. If they were public domain we'd be putting up with blurry, scratched, nth-generation prints.
It's really only a tiny tiny fraction of films thst actually get thst kind of attention and being under copy right actually prevents the proliferation and increases the likelihood of films being lost entirely.
Does it though? Look at everything put out by Warner Archive, Criterion, Eureka, etc. Imagine none of that exists...
There are movies that Arrow and Criterion, shout etc would love to put out, that they've actively pursued for years but aren't allowed to do so because either the rights holders won't let them, or it's not even clear who the rights holders even are.
You can get bargain bin 100 movie DVD packs that contain Night of the Living Dead and Chaplin films or you can get really nice restorations from Criterion and Kino Lorber.
Yes, but would they bother doing anything if a public domain label could just put the same film out for much cheaper?
You can buy a real nice Criterion disc of Night of the Living Dead or The Kid or a Kino Lorber disc of Nosferstu with the original score.
Or Detour. Sure. But it's easier to manage as an occasional thing than it being their entire output. Even more so for labels where prestige and extras aren't a selling point.
Plus it'd be a return to the silent days where storing archival material is a waste of money because there's no future profit potential, so negatives would be junked and films would be lost at a far higher rate.
Im.not arguing against any copyright at all, but there's also not much argume t for thr current 95 year limit thst wouldn't hold just as much at 70 and thr current laws were pushed several times due to the interest of one specific studio and one specific property. It's pretty absurd.
For everything other than film, yes. But the expense of restoring film to look its best means it does actually benefit in a meaningful way. With a book, the words are the same regardless of how they're printed, and any complete copy of the book will give you enough to produce a perfect version no matter how crumpled or stained it might be.
How does copyright increase the likelihood of films being lost entirely? Most films that I know of that are entirely lost would be public domain by now anyway because they're from the 20s, and they're not lost because they're copyrighted, rather because nobody bothered to preserve film back then, or else the only known copy got destroyed in a fire.
People can't even argue about the Disney vault anymore because they pretty much stopped "once it's in the vault it's gone forever" like 15 years ago, and especially don't bother with it now that Disney+ is a thing.
The less a piece of media is able to circulate the higher chance it has of becoming lost.
Many of the films that are lost are lost because there was 1 copy held by the owner that were destroyed in various ways. There have been thousands of films destroyed in fires at the major studios, or destroyed by the studios on purpose. There are films and TV episodes thst only still exist because copies weren't returned according to policy or because they were pirated. Nosferatu was found in violation of Bram Stokers copyright and all copies were ordered destroyed. The film was nearly entirely lost on purpose.
Today, Warner Brothers properties not already pirated or on disc could very easily go up in smoke like the Batgirl movie if WB decides its in their interest.
The vast majority of Disney's holdings are not available on streaming.
Disney might not be interested in playing or releasing a given Fox film from 1951, but no one else is allowed to either.
Films becoming lost isn't just a 1920s problem. It's actually becoming a big issue for a lot of 90s independent film, the rights caught up in complex webs of defunct financiers. In some case the elements might be available but efforts to restore or distribute them are hindered by the legal situation even though no one is exploiting the copyright. Under the original copyright laws, unless intentionally renewed, the rights from movies from 1994 would already be lapsing and those materials would be freed up.
It's not like in other countries it's better. EU has movies in public domain 70 years after last death of either director, writer and few others since it's collaboration. Which means that if someone makes something when 20 and live to 100 then that work will be only in public domain after 150 years. It's insane and only make sure that 99% will simply disappear before that.
Oh shit Sunrise is entering public domain! That one is actually kind of a bitch to stream in Canada rn
Great movie. Was able to finally see it last month
I'm really curious about what happens with Metropolis. I would love to see a Patreon or donation funded restoration with frame interpolation to get to something like 24 or greater fps, and maybe some different upscaling options That type of work isn't zero cost so it'd be nice to compensate someone for their efforts.
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AlanMorlock t1_j2co5s8 wrote
Every year Public Domain day mostly just hilights hoe absurd thr US public domain laws are to begin with. Fritz Lang has been dead for almost 50 years. Basically the entire crew, cast, entire potential audience of anyone who could have seen the film upon release have been dead foe years. There's little reason Metropolis shouldn't have been in the public domain years ago, and little films from, say, 20, years after it shouldn't already be also.
Under the original laws, films from the early 90s would be entering now unless specifically renewed.