--- description: The controversial new Winnie-the-Pooh horror movie 'Blood and Honey' is the product of the original Pooh story entering the public domain. title: How the Winnie-the-Pooh Horror Movie Came to Be image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted97bbfb8ee57125/698a3a6886f68e331d6f22cc/Winnie-the-Pooh-Blood-and-Honey.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How the New Winnie-the-Pooh Horror Movie _Blood and Honey_ Came to Exist  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Feb 16, 2023 7:27 PM CUT  Photo illustration by Katie Kalupson for TIME  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Feb 16, 2023 7:27 PM CUT “If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise.” The once-magical lyrics of the children’s song “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic” turn into an ominous warning in the opening credits of [_Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey_](https://time.com/4953156/goodbye-christopher-robin-true-story/ "undefined"), in theaters Feb. 15. Written and directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield (_The Area 51 Incident_, _Firenado_), _Blood and Honey_ follows a deformed Pooh (Craig David Dowsett) and Piglet (Chris Cordell) as they descend into a murderous rampage after [Christopher Robin](https://time.com/5357651/christopher-robin-review/ "undefined") (Nikolai Leon) leaves them behind to go to college. Forced to fend for themselves, the creatures of the Hundred Acre Wood begin eating each other (R.I.P. Eeyore) and turn feral. Five years later, Christopher Robin returns to the woods with his wife Mary (Paula Coiz) in hopes of introducing her to his childhood friends and proving they weren’t imaginary. Instead, the couple is terrorized by the anthropomorphic monsters that Pooh and Piglet have become, and a brutal killing spree begins. The Pooh and Piglet of _Blood and Honey_ are a far cry from the beloved characters created by English author A.A. Milne and later adapted for film and television by Disney—and have generated quite the controversy. Frake-Waterfield told the [_Agence France-Presse_](https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230210-oh-bother-viral-winnie-the-pooh-horror-film-triggers-fans "undefined") that he’s received death threats over his horror reimagining of the classic Winnie-the-Pooh story. “I’ve had petitions to stop it,” he said. “I’ve had death threats. I’ve had people saying they called the police.” However, the movie, [reportedly made for under $100,000](https://variety.com/2023/film/global/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey-box-office-micro-budget-1235515255/ "undefined"), has also garnered a significant amount of online attention and already [earned $1 million in Mexico](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/winnie-the-pooh-blood-honey-mexico-box-office-1235318616/ "undefined") since its Jan. 26 premiere. This prompted the film’s distributor, Fathom Events, to expand its U.S. launch from what would have been a one-night-only release to a nine-day run in more than 1,500 theaters nationwide.  Winnie the Pooh seen in the horror movie 'Blood and Honey' Courtesy of ITN Studios and Jagged Edge Productions So how exactly did the R-rated _Blood and_ _Honey_ come to be? Although [Disney](https://time.com/5790677/bob-iger-successor-predictions-chapek-failures/ "undefined") still owns the rights to the animated cartoon versions of Pooh Bear and company, A.A. Milne’s 1926 book _Winnie-the-Pooh_ entered the public domain on Jan. 1, 2022\. That means that Milne’s original story, as well as illustrator E.H. Shepard’s drawings of Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Eeyore, and Christopher Robin, all became fair game for any and all types of adaptations following the end of the 95-year copyright protection term. Frake-Waterfield wasted no time jumping on the opportunity to incorporate the characters into his microbudget slasher flick, with production on _Blood and Honey_ starting early last year. But the director also seems to have taken pains to avoid bringing down Disney’s iron copyright hammer. For instance, the Pooh of _Blood and Honey_ is wearing a red flannel button-up rather than the red t-shirt of Disney Pooh fame, and popular characters like Tigger don’t appear in the film. “We’ve tried to be extremely careful,” he told [_Variety_](https://variety.com/2022/film/news/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey-director-1235278405/ "undefined")last year. “We knew there was this line between that, and we knew what their copyright was and what they’ve done. So we did as much as we could to make sure \[the film\] was only based on the 1926 version of it.” Still, _Blood and Honey_ has largely been panned by critics, with its [Rotten Tomatoes score](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/winnie%5Fthe%5Fpooh%5Fblood%5Fand%5Fhoney "undefined") currently sitting at 8%. “The goal of _Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey_ was clearly to ruin your childhood,” [wrote _The Daily Beast_‘s Nick Schager](https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey-review-slasher-movie-is-embarrassingly-bad "undefined"). “The bizarrely uninspired horror disaster will make you wish you kept your money instead.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6253876/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey-backstory/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6253876/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey-backstory/"},"headline":"How the New Winnie-the-Pooh Horror Movie Blood and Honey Came to Exist","datePublished":"2023-02-16T19:27:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:53:31.033Z","description":"The controversial new Winnie-the-Pooh horror movie 'Blood and Honey' is the product of the original Pooh story entering the public domain","url":"https://time.com/6253876/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey-backstory/","keywords":["movies","Explainer","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted97bbfb8ee57125/698a3a6886f68e331d6f22cc/Winnie-the-Pooh-Blood-and-Honey.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted97bbfb8ee57125/698a3a6886f68e331d6f22cc/Winnie-the-Pooh-Blood-and-Honey.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Winnie-the-Pooh-Blood-and-Honey","caption":"","creditText":"Photo illustration by Katie Kalupson for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6253876/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey-backstory/","name":"How the New Winnie-the-Pooh Horror Movie Blood and Honey Came to Exist"}}]}] ```