Our beloved Steamboat Willie is now on the free domain. For those of you who may not be familiar with Steamboat Willie is the well loved cartoon of Mickey Mouse on a steamboat whistling while stirring the wheel.These black and white skits would be at the start of most of our favorite Disney movies.

The reason why it such a big deal is because any can use it for whatever they deem it fit.  I want to emphasize that mickey mouse copyright is still going but the 1928 cartoon is up for grabs.Winnie the Pooh is a perfect example of this. First, we think of him as the wily, nilly, silly old bear that lives in Hundred Acre woods, but in January of 2022 his copyright expired and quickly became a horror movie just a year after. People saw the dark turn that can happen when beloved characters like Winnie the Pooh and even Steamboat Willie with his own horror movie will start production in the Spring of 2024.