The timeline of Public Domain Disney for the rest of the decade.
We now have the remaining Disney Oswalds, Steamboat Willie, and Galloping Gaucho. Plane Crazy is still a weird case because only the silent version came out in 1928, so they could still get you for the soundtrack since the sound version was a 1929 release.
2025: With 1929, we start getting Silly Symphonies with the first batch of five including Skeleton Dance and Hell's Bells (the inspiration for Cuphead's Devil). Mickey highlights for the year include The Karnival Kid (Mickey's first speaking role and the source of the Hot Dog obsession), The Plowboy (Horace Horsecollar's debut) and Mickey's Follies (the debut of the Minnie's Yoo-Hoo theme song). Outside of Disney, Popeye the Sailor Man debuts in Thimble Theater and in 1930, proceeds to cuck the comic's original protagonist out of both Olive Oyl and main character status.
2026: 1930 gives us an unnamed Pluto in The Chain Gang where he was a prison guard dog, Clarabelle Cow in The Shindig and marks the debut of the Mickey Mouse comic strip by Floyd Gottfredson with the storylines "Mickey Mouse in Death Valley" and "Mr Slicker and the Egg Robbers", starring a prototype of Mortimer Mouse and featuring the infamous "Mickey attempts suicide" series of strips.
2027: In 1931, Pluto formally got his name and status of Mickey's pet in The Moose Hunt. Looking outside of Disney, Universal began their Golden Age of Monster movies with Dracula and Frankenstein.
2028: Mickey's 100th birthday year and unrelated to Disney, when Betty Boop enters public domain. 1932 was a busy time, we got Flowers and Trees to kick off the color Silly Symphonies and there's the debut of Dippy Dawg, who becomes Goofy two years later. Mickey's nephews Morty and Ferdie were created around this time and within the Gottfredson comics, we have the awesome Blaggard Castle arc.
2029: 1933 stuff enters public domain, which outside of Disney includes the original King Kong film which would unravel so much of the copyright mess that is the giant ape's rights. Footlight Parade, which was a part of The Great Movie Ride came out this year. While the Silly Symphonies had done their fair share of fairytales at this point, The Three Little Pigs you could make a case for being Disney's first "We basically own this public domain story now" level success of a fairytale adaptation.
2030: 1934 was the year we were introduced to the man, the legend, Donald Duck in The Wise Little Hen and Orphan's Benefit. The Silly Symphonies also entered their "R&D for making Snow White" phase with The Goddess of Spring
While Disney's Snow White won't be free until 2033, we are most definitely entering the "Old stuff people still love to this day" era of Copyright Glacier Melt now.
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