Author Archive: Retro

An aspect ratio is a mathematical expression for the shape of an image.
Standard televisions have an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (sometimes expressed as 4 x 3),
meaning a TV image is one and one-third times as wide as it is high. Most theater
screen images are wider than those of television screens, with the two most common
theatrical ratios being 1.85:1 and 2.35:1. Other ratios sometimes used are 1.66:1
(standard European format), 1.75:1, 2:1, 2.20:1, 2.55:1 and 2.75:1.
Prior to the introduction of widescreen presentations (circa 1953), the theatrical ratio used
was 1.33:1, the same as standard TV.

Why care about the public domain? How does it matter to you? Below are only a few examples of activities enabled by a robust public domain. In Europe you will be able to engage in these kinds of projects, and more, with the wealth of material entering the public domain on January 1, 2012. In the US, under the law in effect until 1978, you could do all of this with works published in 1955 (and, because their copyrights would not have been renewed, with an estimated 85% of the works published in 1983). But now everything published from 1923 onward is presumptively copyrighted and off limits, even though the vast majority of these works are no longer commercially valuable and no one is benefiting from continued copyright protection. And the public domain is shrinking just as digital technology puts the tools to do the things below at all of our fingertips, empowering the millions who could collect, restore, [...]

1. Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) based on Mark Twain’s  book (1885)

Revenue = $24.1 million (revenue figures listed where available – based on wikipedia data).

2. Tom and Huck (1995) based on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer  by Mark Twain (1876)

Revenue = $23.9 million

3. Aladdin (1992) from a folk tale in One Thousand and One Nights (1706)

Revenue = $504 million

4. Alice in Wonderland (1951) based on Lewis Carroll’s book (1865)

5. Alice in Wonderland (2010) based on Lewis Carroll’s book (1865)

Revenue = $1.02 billion

6. Around the World in 80 Days (2004) based on Jules Verne’s book (1873)

Revenue = $72.2 million

7. Atlantis (2001) from the Legend of Atlantis (Socratic Dialogues “Timaeus” & “Critias” by Plato ~360 BC.)

8. Beauty and the Beast (1991) by G-S Barbot de Villeneuve’s book (1775)

Revenue = $425 million

9. Bug’s Life (1998) from Aesop’s Fables

Revenue = $363.4 million

10. Cinderella (1950) from Charles Perrault’s folk tale (Grimm’s Fairy Tails) (1697)

Revenue = $85 million

11. Chicken Little  (2005) from the folk tale

Revenue = $314.4 million

12. Christmas Carol (2009) from Charles Dickens (1843)

Revenue = $325.3 million

13. Fantasia (1940) scored and based on Bach, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven [...]