photo: Pixabay, DariuszSankowski
Novels by Agatha Christie, William Faulkner and all pre-1923 sound recordings
A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, classic novels by Ernest Hemingway and Agatha Christie and hundreds of thousands of pre-1923 sound recordings are among the works that entered that public domain on New Year’s Day 2022, reported Rolling Stone.
Dorothy Parker’s first poetry collection Enough Rope, William Faulkner’s first novel Soldiers’ Pay, and books by Langston Hughes, Willa Cather, T.E. Lawrence and more also joined Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in the public domain, the Associated Press reported.
“When works go into the public domain, they can legally be shared, without permission or fee. That is something Winnie-the-Pooh would appreciate. Community theaters can screen the films. Youth orchestras can perform the music publicly, without paying licensing fees,” Jennifer Jenkins, Director of Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, wrote of the 2022 bounty on the Public Domain Day site.
“This helps enable access to cultural materials that might otherwise be lost to history. 1926 was a long time ago. The vast majority of works from 1926 are out of circulation. When they enter the public domain in 2022, anyone can rescue them from obscurity and make them available, where we can all discover, enjoy, and breathe new life into them,” noting how modern-day Shakespeare adaptations wouldn’t be possible if not for the public domain.
Additionally, for the first time thanks to the passage of the Music Modernization Act in 2018, over 400,000 sound recordings from the advent of sound recording technology through 1922 will also enter the public domain. This includes works by Mamie Smith, Al Jolson, Fanny Brice, Ethel Waters and hundreds more.
“On January 1 2022, the gates will open for all of the recordings that have been waiting in the wings,” Jenkins wrote. “Decades of recordings made from the advent of sound recording technology through the end of 1922—estimated at some 400,000 works—will be open for legal reuse.”
However, the biggest work to enter the public domain Jan. 1 is Milne’s first Winnie-the-Pooh story, published in 1926 and, nearly a century later, an estimated billion-dollar franchise under Disney’s stewardship. USA Today reported that while Disney’s own creations are trademarked under the “The Mickey Mouse Protection Act,” since Pooh and friends was the invention of Milne, the company could lose its exclusivity on the character.
With Winnie-the-Pooh in the public domain, others would now be able to adapt the character and his friends — but not Tigger, who Milne created in 1928 and still under Disney rule for a few more years — in new works. However, Disney owns the copyright on their version of the Winnie-the-Pooh cartoons, so any adaptations born out of the book entering the public domain can not closely resemble those in the Magic Kingdom.
What Does this mean for Disney?
Disney’s Winnie The Pooh franchise has been a billion-dollar machine for the company and they plan to continue to use the characters with a Disney+ project currently in development. As of 2013, Winnie the Pooh is one of the best-selling franchises in the world. Pooh is also a favorite subject in books from Disney Publishing Worldwide, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books and magazines with more than 700 million products sold each year, reported The DisInsider.
The last time we saw these characters was in live-action form in 2018’s Christopher Robin. The film, which stars Ewan McGregor as the title character, alongside Hayley Atwell as his wife Evelyn, Bronte Carmichael as their daughter Madeline Robin, and Mark Gatiss as his boss with the voices of Jim Cummings (reprising his roles as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger), Brad Garrett (reprising his role as Eeyore), Nick Mohammed, Peter Capaldi, Sophie Okonedo, Sara Sheen, and Toby Jones. The story follows an adult Christopher Robin as he loses his sense of imagination, only to be reunited with his old stuffed friends, including Winnie the Pooh.
The film grossed over $197 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film in Disney’s Winnie the Pooh franchise surpassing The Tigger Movie released in 2000. The film, which received mostly positive reviews from both critics and fans, also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 91st Academy Awards.
So do not worry, Disney and Winnie The Pooh’s partnership is not going anywhere. This just means we get different content from the Hundred Acre Woods and that’s good for everyone.