When copyrights end and art enters the public domain, it ends inevitably leads to horror (see: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies).
The latest victim of expired creative ownership? Winnie-the-Pooh and friends.
The creation of English author A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard in the 1920s, Pooh and Piglet and most of the other wonderful animals of the Hundred Acre Wood will now be part of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, an R-rated slasher flick that “follows Pooh and Piglet as they go on a rampage after Christopher Robin abandons them,” according to the film’s IMDB page.
“Because they’ve had to fend for themselves so much, they’ve essentially become feral,” director Rhys Waterfield told Variety. “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.”
The article notes that the film was apparently completed in 10 days and shot near Ashdown Forest, the inspiration for Milne’s imaginary Hundred Acre Wood. As well, Waterfield notes that this horror-comedy is only based on the character representations found in the original 1926 Pooh book (the copyright lapsed at the end of 2021) and not what viewers might be used to from the characters seen in any recent Disney adaptations — so no Tigger, for example, and the clothing choices of the animals will reflect the book.
One scene has Pooh and Piglet grabbing a woman from a jacuzzi and then running over her with a car. “She’s having a good time and then Pooh and Piglet appear behind her, chloroform her, take her out of the jacuzzi and then kind of drive a car over her head,” Waterfield said. “It’s scary but there’s also funny bits because there’s shots of Winnie the Pooh in a car and seeing him with his little ears behind the wheel and like slowly going over there [to kill her].”
So, is your childhood ruined? We Got This Covered curated a selection of Twitter responses to the news, and for the most part, people seemed amused.
No release date has been set.
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