“Winnie the Pooh” is slated to star in a horror flick next year alongside a slew of other iconic Disney characters whose copyright protections have expired — including Bambi, Pinocchio, Peter Pan and Sleeping Beauty.
British production company and prolific horror filmmakers Jagged Edge Productions teamed up with independent film distributor ITN Studios to create “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” in 2023.
Though Disney still owns the rights to animated versions of “Winnie the Pooh,” the original story in AA Milne’s book on the honey-loving teddy bear entered the public domain on Jan. 1, 2022.
Since then, the characters in Milne’s 200-page book published in 1926 are free to use legally.
The slasher-film riff on the original good-natured, yellow-furred Pooh made headlines at the time for costing under $50,000 to make — then raking in an impressive $5.2 million at the box office, according to Variety.
On the heels of that success, the same two London-based horror collaborators are set to release “Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble” in a year’s time starring a murderous version of beloved Pooh bear.
The forthcoming film was born out of Jagged Edge chief Scott Chambers’ desire to see “an Avengers that is all villains,” according to Variety.
“It’d have Freddy Krueger, Jason, ‘Halloween,’ ‘Scream,’ all of those. Obviously that will never happen, but we can make it happen in our own little way, and that’s where this film has been born,” Chambers told the outlet.
Other characters set to appear in “Poohniverse” will first star in standalone films being released throughout 2024 as part of Jagged Edge’s version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which it calls the Twisted Childhood Universe.
Among the movies in that collection are: “Bambi: The Reckoning,” “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare” and “Pinocchio Unstrung,” plus “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” and its sequel, which was released just last month.
For reference, Bambi’s copyrights expired in January 2022 while Peter Pan and Pinocchio booth entered the public domain early this year.
Though other details of the forthcoming film’s plot are unclear, the movie poster features a murderous Pooh swinging a bear trap on a chain while riding a bloodthirsty Bambi, Variety earlier reported.
Representatives for Jagged Edge and ITN Studios did not immediately respond to noti.group’s request for comment.
Many beloved animated characters are beginning to enter the public domain — becoming available for use without licensing or payment — in 2019, after a two-decade drought brought on by congressional extensions of the copyright period in 1998, according to Fortune.
However, the public didn’t appear to notice until 2022, when “Winnie the Pooh” became free to use following its 95-year-long copyright period.
The 1928 version of Mickey Mouse, for example, entered the public domain in January 2024 despite Disney trying to save its copyright on the iconic character that started it all.
Accordingly, Disney lost the copyright of Steamboat Willie — the original version of Mickey that appeared in a short animation by the same name — as well as the earliest version of Minnie, which also appeared in the cartoon.
Over the decades, Disney has made several legal maneuvers to try and extend the copyright.
In 1998, it lobbied for the Copyright Extension Act, which added 20 years, adding up to 95 years.
That act would eventually be dubbed the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act” as it showed Disney’s congressional influence.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
