The entertainment industry is increasingly adapting public domain works into cheap horror films, exemplified by upcoming releases like Wuthering Heights: House of the Damned. This trend follows the commercial success of films such as Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey and reflects a broader pattern where filmmakers exploit expired copyrights to avoid licensing fees and bring recognisable stories to audiences in unexpected ways. The phenomenon highlights how copyright expiration creates opportunities for creative reinterpretation, though often resulting in deliberately trashy, low-budget productions aimed at niche audiences.

Several literary classics are entering the public domain or recently becoming available for unrestricted adaptation, including Pride and Prejudice (213 years old), Sense and Sensibility (215 years old), Treasure Island (143 years old), Mrs Dalloway (101 years old), The Age of Innocence (106 years old) and The Sun Also Rises (100 years old). Wuthering Heights: House of the Damned releases digitally on 19 October, whilst Emerald Fennell's mainstream Wuthering Heights adaptation was the 19th highest-grossing film of 2026, demonstrating that both serious and exploitative versions of public domain material can find audiences. The article notes that this business model is not new—Disney's early animations and Universal's horror films were similarly based on lapsed copyright works—but the current wave shows the entertainment industry's continuing eagerness to avoid paying for adaptation rights.