With several asterisks, qualification and caveats, Mickey Mouse in his earliest form will be the leader of the band of characters, films and books that will become public domain in 2024.
Well I for one can't wait to purchase the first porno featuring the named characters steamboat willie taking it up the bum from Tigger while Minnie cries.
This YouTube video show some screenplay from Mouse, an upcoming noir based FPS game. The game will take full advantage of the public's right to reuse1920s era cartoons, particularly Steam Boat Willy, in new and innovative ways.
I read an article speculating that the addition of a few Steamboat Willie frames to the introduction video played on modern Disney movies was to try and push this from copyright protection into trademark protection.
It's honestly a good laugh while saying "what the fuck am I watching" they're working on the second one which introduces Tigger. Don't go into it with high expectations go into it knowing they're doing it for fun and flipping off disney.
I think it was MatPat on YouTube who said that Disney knows this and included that specific Mickey in their trademark as a way to protect it under different laws.
Yup! Copyright and trademark are different things and Disney lawyers have already insulated the company. Yes it will technically enter public domain, but nothing will actually change.
Jokes on Disney, I'm making my porno about Captain Pete, who drives his steamboat down the river, picking up floozies and spitting tobacco up their butts.
I actually think this is a good way to do things, the original work becomes public domain and can be freely reproduced, but people can't, for example, make NSFW versions of the work.
Or just a conga line of shitty Sherlock Holmes adaptations.