From what I’ve read and heard, this was actually a major success for George Romero. Night of the Living Dead had made its money back (and more) by the time any

From what I’ve read and heard, this was actually a major success for George Romero. Night of the Living Dead had made its money back (and more) by the time anyone noticed it was public domain. Once people realized, NotLD got a level of publicity that it would have never gotten if it were copyrighted, which ended up being way more beneficial to Romero. Any theater could show it whenever they didn’t know what else to play and so the movies lifespan extendedly dramatically. Because of all the publicity, NotLD travelled across seas to Europe, and the Europeans reevaluated it as valuable social commentary on race relations in America. If you listen to interviews with Romero on the subject, he was convinced that the public domain is what actually launched his career.