Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey Trailer - Kill-y Old Bear

Silly old bear this ain’t.

In January 2022, the stories of A.A. Milne lapsed into the public domain. Because the world is hurtling towards apocalypse, of course that means that Winnie the Pooh is now the star of a slasher movie courtesy of Jagged Edge Productions. Check out the trailer below:

With Pooh in the public domain, this means that every AO3 fanfic about the Hundred Acre Woods is fair game. There are 181 fics, by the way, I checked. My favorite is the Hundred Acre Orgy, which embodies every reason I both love and fear fanfic.

Personally, I think Milne’s works will be a welcome addition to the public domain. Seeing all the wild and wicked ways people can retell the classic tales is part of the fun of watching movies – sometimes you get a Fire Island, sometimes you get a Persuasion (2022).

As for this flick, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey looks like typical slasher fare, but with an especially goofy premise. I admit I cracked up at the RIP Eeyore tombstone. I’m not sure a few guffaws at the still images and the concept of a feral Piglet and Winnie killing people in hot tubs is enough to justify a feature film, but I’m willing to check it out.

Like Snakes on a Plane before it, this is a film designed with the internet in mind. It’s already blowing up social media, but whether memes translate into box office receipts is uncertain – just ask the producers of Morbius. But I can see people cosplaying as Killer Pooh at conventions and hosting watch parties to see just how far this film goes to corrupt Milne’s works.

You may notice Pooh’s got a new look. That’s probably due to Disney’s horde of lawyers, all waiting for someone to mistake public domain Pooh for the Disney version. In case you’re thinking about making a Pooh-themed porn or some sort of Hundred Acre Woods workplace comedy, remember that the pants-free red sweatered bear is still owned by Disney. In fact, not all of Milne’s books have lapsed into the public domain (Tigger, for instance, is still copyrighted) so anyone looking to cash in with an adaptation better consult Owl before they find themselves in a Disney legal beehive.