Every year, I get excited for January 1st, not just to start a new year in my screenwriting life but to see all the works that have entered the public domain that can inspire my next project.

You can view an extensive list via Duke Law, but we’ll recap the biggest titles in it below.

Let’s dive in.

Public Domain 2025

Without further ado, here’s a list of some of the most popular things hitting the public domain.

Books and Plays

William Faulkner, The Sound and the FuryErnest Hemingway, A Farewell to ArmsVirginia Woolf, A Room of One’s OwnDashiell Hammett, Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon (as serialized in Black Mask magazine)John Steinbeck, Cup of Gold (Steinbeck’s first novel)Richard Hughes, A High Wind in JamaicaOliver La Farge, Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love StoryPatrick Hamilton, RopeArthur Wesley Wheen, the first English translation of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria RemarqueAgatha Christie, Seven Dials MysteryRobert Graves, Good-bye to All ThatE. B. White and James Thurber, Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You DoRainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet (only the original German version, Briefe an einen jungen Dichter)Walter Lippmann, A Preface to MoralsEllery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee), The Roman Hat Mystery

Film

A dozen more Mickey Mouse animations (including Mickey’s first talking appearance in The Karnival Kid)The Cocoanuts, directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley (the first Marx Brothers feature film)The Broadway Melody, directed by Harry Beaumont (winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture)The Hollywood Revue of 1929, directed by Charles Reisner (featuring the song “Singin’ in the Rain”)The Skeleton Dance, directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks (the first Silly Symphony short from Disney)Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (Hitchcock’s first sound film)Hallelujah, directed by King Vidor (one of the first film from a major studio with an all African-American cast)The Wild Party, directed by Dorothy Arzner (Clara Bow’s first “talkie”)Welcome Danger, directed by Clyde Bruckman and Malcolm St. Clair (the first full-sound comedy starring Harold Lloyd)On With the Show, directed by Alan Crosland (the first all-talking, all-color, feature-length film)Pandora’s Box (Die Büchse der Pandora), directed by G.W. PabstShow Boat, directed by Harry A. Pollard (adaptation of the novel and musical)The Black Watch, directed by John Ford (Ford’s first sound film)Spite Marriage, directed by Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton (Keaton’s final silent feature)Say It with Songs, directed by Lloyd Bacon (follow-up to The Jazz Singer and The Singing Fool)Dynamite, directed by Cecil B. DeMille (DeMille’s first sound film)Gold Diggers of Broadway, directed Roy Del Ruth

Musical Compositions

Singin’ in the Rain, lyrics by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb BrownAin’t Misbehavin’, lyrics by Andy Paul Razaf, music by Thomas W. (“Fats”) Waller & Harry Brooks (from the musical Hot Chocolates)An American in Paris, George GershwinBoléro, Maurice Ravel(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue, lyrics by Andy Paul Razaf, music by Thomas W. “Fats” Waller & Harry Brooks (a song about racial injustice from the musical Hot Chocolates)Tiptoe Through the Tulips, lyrics by Alfred Dubin, music by Joseph BurkeHappy Days Are Here Again, lyrics by Jack Yellen, music by Milton Ager (the theme song for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1932 presidential campaign)What Is This Thing Called Love?, by Cole Porter (from Porter’s musical Wake Up and Dream)Am I Blue?, lyrics by Grant Clarke, music by Harry AkstYou Were Meant for Me, lyrics by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb BrownHoney, lyrics and music by Seymour Simons, Haven Gillespie, and Richard A. WhitingWaiting for a Train, lyrics and music by Jimmie Rodgers

Let us know what you think in the comments.