Chicago

The film 'Chicago' (produced by Cecil B. DeMille and directed by Frank Urson) was released in late December 1927. Under the copyright laws in effect at the time, works published or registered in 1927 were subject to a maximum copyright term of 95 years, provided they were properly renewed. Even if a valid renewal had been filed, all works from 1927 entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2023. Furthermore, historical research indicates that the film was likely already in the public domain prior to 2023 due to a failure to renew the copyright. According to the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and 'Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain' (Hurst), no renewal record was found for the 1927 production. While the film was once considered 'lost,' a print was rediscovered in the 2000s in the Cecil B. DeMille archives and has since been restored and widely distributed by Flicker Alley without copyright restrictions beyond the new restoration material.