List of public domain works with multimedia adaptations
Following is a list of public domain works with multimedia adaptations. This lists includes works for which installments exist in multiple forms of media, such as books, comic books, films, television series, and video games. Multimedia franchises usually develop through a character or fictional world becoming popular in one medium, and then expanding to others through licensing agreements, with respect to intellectual property in the franchise's characters and settings. With respect to public domain works, however, adaptations or extensions of the original work may be done without the permission of the author.
To qualify for purposes of this list, the original media must have originated from the work of an identifiable author or set of co-authors, and must have been adapted into works in at least three forms of media, and must have two or more separate works in at least two of those forms of media (a television series or comic book series is considered a single work for purposes of this list; multiple spin-off series or remakes of a previously ended series are considered multiple works). For example, a novel that spawned one film and one television series would not qualify; a series of novels made into a television series that had a spin-off series, or was remade as a new series, and which also spawned one film, does qualify.
All of these works arise in literature, because there are far fewer works in any other media in the public domain. Although many historical figures (such as Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar, and Casanova) and historical events (such as the sinking of the Titanic) have been portrayed in multiple media, with fictionalized elements, these people and events are not themselves "works", and therefore do not fall within the scope of this list.
Subject (Creator) |
Original literary work | Comic books | Animated films |
Live action films |
Animated TV series |
Live action TV series |
Video games | Other media |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll) |
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) numerous adaptations and sequels |
various | several, most famously the 1951 Disney adaptation[1] | several | several | several | several | – |
Allan Quatermain (H. Rider Haggard) |
King Solomon's Mines (1885) numerous sequels |
yes | yes | various | no | no | no | - |
Barsoom[2] (Edgar Rice Burroughs) |
Under the Moons of Mars (1912 serial); A Princess of Mars (1917); numerous sequels | several | no | Princess of Mars (2009); John Carter (2012) | no | no | no | - |
Count Dracula (Bram Stoker) |
Dracula (1897) | various | yes | numerous | yes | yes | yes | Role-playing games; character and settings have been adopted into many other media/franchises |
Frankenstein's monster (Mary Shelley) |
Frankenstein (1818) | various | yes | numerous | yes | yes | yes | Role-playing games; character and settings have been adopted into many other media/franchises |
The Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling) |
The Jungle Book (1894) The Second Jungle Book (1895) |
yes | most notably The Jungle Book (1967) | several | Adventures of Mowgli (1967–1971)[3] | no | The Jungle Book (1993) | Radio show, stage plays |
Peter Pan[4] (J. M. Barrie) |
The Little White Bird (1902; character appears in a segment) Peter and Wendy (1911) numerous adaptations |
various | Walt Disney's Peter Pan (1953); various others | various | Peter Pan and the Pirates (1990); various others | no | several | Peter Pan's Flight (theme park ride); various stage plays |
Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle) |
four novels and 56 short stories, beginning in 1887 | various | no | numerous | Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century (1999–2001) | various | several | – |
Tarzan (Edgar Rice Burroughs) |
Tarzan of the Apes (1912) twenty-three other books by Edgar Rice Burroughs; various adaptations by other authors |
Tarzan (comics) | several | numerous | Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1976–1984) various others |
Tarzan (1966–1968) various others |
several | Stage productions, radio programs, and other media. |
Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain) |
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) several other books |
yes | several | several | several | several | no | several |
The War of the Worlds (H. G. Wells) |
The War of the Worlds (1898) and various sequels |
various adaptations | no | The War of the Worlds (1953) War of the Worlds (2005) and various others |
no | War of the Worlds (1988–1990) | various | The War of the Worlds radio serial (1938) Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (1978 concept album and 2000s stage production) and many others |
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum) |
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) | several | several | several, including The Wizard of Oz (1939) | several | several | several | several |
Notes[]
- ^ Louis Peitzman, "17 Adaptations Of "Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland" Through The Years", BuzzFeed (October 11, 2013), describing the 1951 Disney film as "undoubtedly the most well known".
- ^ Some elements of this work are still covered by copyright.
- ^ Note: two Disney animated series, TaleSpin and Jungle Cubs, also adapted a number of characters from Disney's animated film of The Jungle Book.
- ^ Copyright claims have been asserted as to certain specific elements of this work which were first published by the author in later installments.
See also[]
- List of multimedia franchises
- List of fictional shared universes in film and television
- Fictional universe
- Public domain