Ahead of its release in February, a sequel has been announced to the independent horror film Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.The news was announced on the film's official Twitter page with a caption that reads. "More blood. More honey," the tweet in question reads. Below the caption is ateaser poster for the movie that displays Winnie-The-Pooh 2 front and center and a tagline that reads, "Friends will gather... to take revenge."
Directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield in his directorial debut, the British slasher film is a horror-inspired retelling of A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard's Winnie-the-Pooh books. The new take follows Winnie-the-Pooh (Craig David Dowsett) and Piglet (Chris Cordell), who are now feral and bloodthirsty murderers that begin to terrorize a group of young women and an adult Christopher Robin (Nikolai Leon) when he returns to the Hundred Acre Wood after leaving for college. The film also stars Maria Taylor, Natasha Rose Mills, Amber Doig-Thorne and Danielle Ronald."
The re-imagining went into development in May 2022 after the 1926 Winnie-the-Pooh book became public domain in the United States. This meant that The Walt Disney Company no longer held exclusive film rights to the characters depicted in the book and that anyone could legally use the original book series aspects without permission, as long as they avoided copying elements of Disney's media franchise based on the same books.
Shooting for the film took place over ten days in Ashdown Forest, located in East Sussex, England. Jagged Edge Productions collaborated with ITN Studios to produce and distribute the film, which premiered in Mexico on Jan. 26. When the trailer was released for the movie, the project began to go viral among horror fans, and its originally planned nationwide release as a one-night event was expanded to a major worldwide theatrical debut due to its growing popularity.
The film's director is also looking to put a horrific spin on another childhood classic. A horror movie titled Peter Pan: Neverland Nightmare is in development, although exact details about the plot are a bit scarce. If it follows the Winnie-the-Pooh model, the film will likely be based on the character created by novelist J.M. Barrie that first appeared in The Little White Bird published in 1902 and has since become public domain. The character also has close ties to Disney, with the studio releasing the animated Peter Pan in 1953.
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey will be given a worldwide expanded theatrical release on Feb. 15.
Source: Twitter