Romero Lives!; PittWire, October 1, 2018

PittWire; Romero Lives!

"In an ironic twist, even though Romero and his team were professional filmmakers, they knew little about the business of film. It was marketed without a copyright and was distributed willy-nilly. The upside: It was constantly being shown at many venues.

The downside: No one made a dime."

George A. Romero, Father of Zombie Movies, Dies at 77; Reuters via New York Times, July 16, 2017

Reuters via New York Times; George A. Romero, Father of Zombie Movies, Dies at 77

"Originally called "Night of the Flesh Eaters," the title was changed by the film's distributor, Walter Reade. Somehow, no copyright protection was filed after the name change, putting "Night of the Living Dead" into the public domain and allowing anyone to distribute it for free.

Romero told The New York Times in 2016 that many more people saw the movie as result, "keeping the film alive.""

Guess What’s Back From the Grave? ‘Night of the Living Dead’; New York Times, 10/27/16

Glenn Kenny, New York Times; Guess What’s Back From the Grave? ‘Night of the Living Dead’ :

"The film’s original distributor, the Walter Reade Organization (named for its founder, a pioneer of art-house distribution), did not file for a new copyright after changing the title from the original “Night of the Flesh Eaters” to “Night of the Living Dead.” That meant the movie went into the public domain almost immediately. As was once the case with Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the movie has been subjected to many unofficial, though legal, iterations.

The paradox of the situation has not been lost on its director, George A. Romero. “The fact that people were able to show it for free, that anybody was able to distribute it, did result in lots of people seeing it, and keeping the film alive,” he said in a phone interview. But viewers were too often watching inferior versions. That will change — dramatically, the moviemakers hope — on Saturday, Nov. 5, when the Museum of Modern Art screens a new, and copyrightable, restoration of “Living Dead” as part of its annual restoration and preservation festival, “To Save and Project.”"

'Night of the Living Dead': How a 42-year-old zombie movie refuses to die; Entertainment Weekly, 10/28/10

Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly; 'Night of the Living Dead': How a 42-year-old zombie movie refuses to die:

"Alas, by then, Night of the Living Dead had fallen into the public domain, which meant the film’s rights were of extremely limited use and worth. In fact, as far as the U.S. Copyright Office was concerned, the movie had always been in the public domain. This was the fault of the Walter Reade Organization, who neglected to put a copyright notice on the title card of the movie after the name change to Night of the Living Dead. “It was our first film; we didn’t know what we were doing,” says Romero. “When they took that title off and replaced it with Night of the Living Dead, they didn’t put the copyright bug there because it normally shouldn’t be there. It should be at the end of the film.”"

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/10/28/walking-dead-zombies-night-of-the-living-dead/