[dctoedt]

> The government had nothing to do with creating any of those movies. Why should the government be able to take those movies and release them for free?

The government wouldn't be "releasing" any of these movies; it'd instead be telling the movies' creators: "You chose to make these movies available to the public in a form that makes them vulnerable to being copied. 'To promote the progress of science and useful arts' [0], we the people are willing to intervene on your behalf — but only for a limited time — to stop others from doing such copying. As to those particular movies, your time is now up; if you want us to intervene again on your behalf, it'll have to be for something new you've created, not for the same old stuff."

[EDIT:] That said, of course, the specific duration that copyrights should have is certainly a valid subject of discussion and debate.

[0] U.S. Const. art. 1 sec. 8 cl. 8. https://fairuse.stanford.edu/law/us-constitution/