Winnie the Pooh and the rest of author A.A. Milne’s beloved creations are primarily associated with Disney due to the many movies and cartoons produced by the studio over the years. But Milne’s works recently became part of the public domain, which means people can do as they please with the characters. And boy, did director Rhys Waterfield make quick work of turning Pooh Bear into a horror villain. Yes, really. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is a very real horror movie that recently wrapped filming and will see Pooh and his pal Piglet doing a whole bunch of killing.
First look at ‘WINNIE THE POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY’, a horror retelling of Winnie The Pooh. pic.twitter.com/VfBF6MTpOc
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) May 26, 2022
These images recently started making the rounds online and, as one might imagine, they caused a bit of a stir. It would be one thing if this were a mere fan film or something of the like, but this movie is currently in post-production and is gearing up for release, likely later this year. And almost certainly sooner rather than later. Waterfield spoke with Variety after the above images started circulating online and explained that they are now working furiously to get the film finished.
“Because of all the press and stuff, we’re just going to start expediting the edit and getting it through post-production as fast as we can. But also, making sure it’s still good. It’s gonna be a high priority.”
This means we can probably expect to see a trailer in the not-too-distant future. The report also notes the film was shot in a mere ten days in England. So we should expect a low-budget affair, to be certain. But what is it going to be about? Waterfield says Pooh and Piglet are “the main villains” and that they are “going on a rampage” after Christopher Robin heads off to college. It gets crazier from there. Says the filmmaker:
“Christopher Robin is pulled away from them, and he’s not [given] them food, it’s made Pooh and Piglet’s life quite difficult. Because they’ve had to fend for themselves so much, they’ve essentially become feral. So they’ve gone back to their animal roots. They’re no longer tame: they’re like a vicious bear and pig who want to go around and try and find prey.”
Waterfield’s Jagged Edge Productions is behind the film, with co-producer Scott Jeffrey, who co-runs the operation. ITN Studios is set to distribute the movie. The only other thing to be concerned about is crossing a copyright line. Milne’s early works are now public domain, but Disney’s interpretations of the characters are not. The director says they were mindful of that.
“We’ve tried to be extremely careful. We knew there was this line between that, and we knew what their copyright was and what they’ve done. So we did as much as we could to make sure [the film] was only based on the 1926 version of it.”
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey does not have a release date, but be on the lookout.
