Here’s What’s Entering the Public Domain in 2026

We can use Boop! Betty Boop is just one of several characters, books, recordings and ephemera entering the public domain January 1, 2026. “When works go into the public domain, they can legally be shared, without permission or fee. Community theaters can screen the films. Youth orchestras can perform the music publicly, without paying licensing fees,” writes Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain. “This helps enable both access to and preservation of cultural materials that might otherwise be lost to history.” So it’s not just dark and twisted horror movie versions of beloved children’s media. But it also that. Boop can start murdering people alongside the “Steamboat Willie” version of Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh, should someone wish to do that with their precious time on this earth.

Literally thousands of works are entering the public domain this year, but here are some highlights: Betty Boop, obvs. But also Blondie and Dagwood. The first iteration of Pluto hits the PD this year, although he was called Rover at the time. Three detectives are uncovering the mystery of copyright law. Nancy Drew, Miss Marple, and Sam Spade all had their first print adventures in 1930. “Livin’ in the Sunlight, Lovin’ in the Moonlight,” a.k.a. that one song from Spongebob is public domain now (although the Tiny Tim recording is still under copyright), as is “Georgia on my Mind” and “Embraceable You.” Books that are now in the public domain include As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, The Little Engine That Could, and Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents. And the second Marx Bros. movie, Animal Crackers is free to screen whenevs. Go nuts on the Internet Archive, why don’t you?