Demolishing and Building Up the Star Theatre

The film 'Demolishing and Building Up the Star Theatre' was produced by Frederick S. Armitage for the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in 1901. As a work first published and registered in the United States before January 1, 1928, it has entered the public domain due to the expiration of its statutory copyright term. Under current US law (specifically the Copyright Term Extension Act), all works published prior to 1928 have lost their copyright protection. The film is a notable early example of time-lapse photography, documenting the disassembly and subsequent (via reverse-motion) reassembly of the Star Theatre at 13th Street and Broadway in New York City. In 2002, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, which confirms its historical status and public availability. Because it predates the 1928 cutoff, no renewal search is required to confirm its public domain status.