Over the last decade, Disney has come to dominate the cinematic slate from the shadows. Not only does it have its own releases, some of which lose millions (or even $100 million), but it’s also the puppet master atop Marvel, Star Wars, and a whole host of other properties acquired in the deal with Fox – such as Avatar, which it hopes to bring back in 2022. With so many smash-hit movies having the theme of going up against massive corporations, it won’t come as a surprise that so many moviegoers can’t help but enjoy the odd knock against the House of Mouse.
Much of Disney’s fame and fortune comes from its classic animated movies, most of which are derived from old stories, fairytales, and myths. As such, while Disney keeps the names of these writings relevant through their timeless animated movies, the stories themselves aren’t owned by the company. So, eventually, many movies made by Disney will have their themes and story open to the public, allowing the likes of Rhys Frake-Waterfield to put a distinctly new spin on the tale.
This is the case with the upcoming horror flick Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, which saw its trailer go viral in August 2022. The A.A. Milne books date back to the 1920s, with Jagged Edge Productions happy to produce this retelling – which is certainly expected to be rated 18. Following the success of its trailer – which received 5.1 million views on the Rotten Tomatoes Trailers YouTube channel in two months alone – Blood and Honey has been given a theatrical release and a date to go with it. Those who love a crazy spin on a classic will be queuing at their cinemas to see it early in 2023.
Winnie the Pooh Returns to the Big Screen Close to Valentine’s Day 2023
On 15 February 2023, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey will get a theatrical release in the UK, Canada, Mexico, and the United States, despite it beginning as what looked to be a cheeky, indie B-movie. As The Hollywood Reporter details, Fathom Events will be putting on one-day events across the US to show it at theatres, while Altitude will be putting it on across cinemas in the UK. Following the hype and increased interest, more was invested in the production, which expanded it with some additional shoots.
The movie itself is said to follow an older Christopher Robin who’s off to college, abandoning his best friends in Hundred Acre Woods. Not happy with being left behind, Pooh Bear and Piglet go on a rampage, slaughtering all they come across. There’s usually a horror movie hit cinemas around Valentine’s Day, with many of them riffing on the romantic genre but filling it up with blood and gore. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey could be seen as doing something similar, taking a well-known movie from a cutesy genre and flipping it on its head.
Many movies and other entertainment products – as we’ll get to shortly – draw from well-known properties to add a different spin and suit a new direction. For Blood and Honey, however, the creators had to wait for the 95-year mark to hit in order for Milne’s original works to hit the public domain. This happened in January 2022, and the trailer for Blood and Honey went viral in August 2022. It’s fair to say that Frake-Waterfield was set and ready for the rights to go public, reportedly wrapping (originally) in May 2022.
Blood and Honey to Tap into the Enjoyment of Creative Spins
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One of the most infamous forms of spins on classics or genre-bending is for Christmas. Usually, Christmas movies are filled with light-hearted family fun and maybe a bit of comedy, with everything turning out happy in the end. As a result, moviemakers have loved creating horror Xmas movies that are either just set at that time of year or directly pivot classics. Most are naff and made for the gimmick, but the likes of Better Watch Out, Gremlins, Inside, Red Snow, and Anna and the Apocalypse have received decent reviews from fans and critics, even becoming Xmas classics in their own right.
It’s not just in movies where classic properties are twisted or spun or make for an eye-catching and witty product. Easily, this is most prevalent in slot gaming. At the online casino offering the biggest jackpots in Nigeria, the slots selection spans many licensed games like Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, and Highlander, but also spins on other classics. There’s Nevada Nights (like Havana nights, but in Las Vegas), Mr & Mrs Spy: Licence to Thrill (from Mr & Mrs Smith and James Bond), and Dungeons and Diamonds (to put the riches into the classic tabletop RPG setting).
People enjoy seeing things that they’re familiar with, and what creations like these do is loosely tap on that but also offer a clever spin, which in slot gaming, is often enough to warrant a click. At the cinema, other than the Xmas horror sub-genre, sometimes, subtlety is the way to go. Get Out, the best film of 2017, is actually a twist on The Stepford Wives to be about race rather than women. Of course, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey has received so much attention because the twist is so on the nose. It won’t stop with Pooh Bear, either.
The team behind Blood and Honey has its sights set on several other beloved properties, too, getting ready to delve into the dark horrors that could surround the stories. Frake-Waterfield and Scott Jeffrey, who was involved in the distinctly B-movie slasher Humpty Dumpty – a sequel now also exists to this – are now looking to Thor as Marvel doesn’t own the rights to the Norse legend, and even Peter Pan. In fact, Peter Pan: Neverland Nightmare has been announced, with it being a dark twist on the 1902 J.M. Barrie creation, and Bambi: The Reckoning is reportedly in the works.
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey will be a low-budget horror flick that leans into gore-filled scenes and the dark humour of Pooh Bear and Piglet going on a killing spree. This is where it holds its appeal, though, and it’ll undoubtedly be watched by quite a large audience – even if only ironically.
