[timpark]

In May 1998, before the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act went into effect, there was an amusing Tom the Dancing Bug comic regarding characters falling out of copyright. https://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/1998/05/17

In that vein, similar to the Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh horror movies that have been released in recent years, Popeye will be entering the public domain next year and people are working on a horror movie based on that.

[fred_is_fred]

I am curious how the long tail and changing of media consumption habits has devalued many of these characters. Mickey is Mickey and there's an entire company built on it of course, but my kids have literally no clue who Popeye is. They have never seen a Popeye cartoon and probably never will. When I was younger we didn't have nearly as much choice (2-3 channels with limited times for cartoons) - rather than Netflix or Youtube which effectively offers unlimited/fragmented options.

Additionally the main plot line of Popeye is effectively Popeye protecting Olive Oil from being assaulted by Bluto - not exactly modern cartoon material.

[timpark]

I think some things were a product of their time, and weren't popular/profitable enough to keep marketing or update or modernize. (whether they didn't maintain peoples' attention, or had issues like the Popeye one you mentioned) Another not-as-popular character that's entering the public domain in 2026, for example, is Betty Boop.

On the other hand, Superman and Batman enter the public domain in 2034 and 2035 respectively, so that should be interesting. Though like Mickey Mouse/Steamboat Willie, I expect that it's only the original version/costume that goes public domain.

[saghm]

Even as someone who isn't really into horror much as a genre, it's hard not to appreciate how one of the first instincts we have as a society when freeing some IP is "We should make a creepy version of this!".

[Swizec]

> it's hard not to appreciate how one of the first instincts we have as a society when freeing some IP is "We should make a creepy version of this!"

Almost certainly rule 34 happens first and just gets less attention in public. There were “bear” posters of Pooh all over SOMA (in SF) almost immediately after the copyright ended.