In the film "Popeye the slayer man", Karl-Alfred indeed eats his spinach traditionally to become strong – but this time with an extremely violent result. Also, the film "Shiver me timbers" and another as yet untitled Karl Alfred horror film are scheduled to premiere next year.
This is not the first time iconic figures are used in horror films when the rights have expired. The same thing happened with Winnie the Pooh a couple of years ago when the slasher film "Winne the Pooh – blood and honey" received a lot of attention.
Besides EC Segar's Karl-Alfred and Hergé's Tintin, the copyright protection for the Marx brothers' first feature film "Millionaires' Paradise", Alfred Hitchcock's first sound film "Blackmail", and Ernest Hemingway's novel "A Farewell to Arms" as well as Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" has also been lifted.
When it comes to Tintin, it is only in the USA, where the rights apply for 95 years, that it is free to exploit the comic book character. Within the EU, the protection applies 70 years after the creator's death – and the Belgian comic book artist died in 1983.
