The new year means a new batch of movies, songs, illustrations, and paintings have entered the public domain. In fact, we previously mentioned the Internet Archive’s Remix film contest, promoting the use of public domain materials.
A quick copyright primer: United States copyright law, is, to put it mildly, not perfect. But one of the things the law does right, is that it allows works to revert to the public domain, meaning that others are free to use them in whatever way they like. Currently, films enter the public domain after 95 years. (If that seems a bit long to you, you’re not alone.) Unfortunately the history of copyright is littered with attempts by the big studios (often Disney) to prolong the copyright term. Nonetheless, here in 2026, films from 1930 enter the public domain, and you can use them in your own projects. However, note that music rights are a bit more complicated and don’t necessarily enter public domain when the movies they are in do so.
With that all out of the way, here are some of the works that have just entered the public domain:
The headlining film for this year is arguably All Quiet on the Western Front. The film, based on the 1929 novel of the same name, is consistently found on “best of” lists in American film history. In 2007, American Film Institute named it the 7th best “American epic film.”
Another notable addition this year is Animal Crackers from the Marx Brothers. This Paramount film is the second Marx brothers movie to enter the public domain after The Cocoanuts did so last year.
Also entering the public domain this year, is an additional 19 Disney animated shorts, and Buster Keaton’s first “talkie,” Free and Easy.
Thousands of works from 1930 are now part of the public domain, and compiling a list of all of them would be impossible. For a more thorough list, check out this post on the Internet Archive.
Leave a Reply