Stand aside, Mickey Mouse slasher movie (Steamboat Willie Mickey version only): the team behind Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey—the most high-profile film in the current wave of horror movies based on beloved characters in the public domain—just leveled up. There’s an entire cinematic universe coming.
The existence of sequel Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 was confirmed last fall. Its creators, Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios, also intend to make films titled Bambi: The Reckoning, Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, and Pinocchio Unstrung—standalone films that will culminate in a 2025 release called Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. They’re calling it the Twisted Childhood Universe… though won’t we all just call it the “Poohniverse”?
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Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield, who made both Winnie-the-Pooh movies and will helm Poohniverse—made some big promises in a press release. “It will be complete carnage. We are heavily influenced by Freddy vs. Jason and The Avengers. We would love to see a horror movie where the villains group together and are going after their survivors. We have some incredible set pieces in mind and some sequences I think will truly shock people.”
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Frake-Waterfield’s fellow Jagged Edge Productions producer, Scott Chambers, echoed that sentiment, and he dropped some more character names: “We will follow Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Owl, Piglet, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, the Mad Hatter, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell joining forces to wreak havoc. We are working with a larger scale budget on this one and are excited for what the future will hold.” Killer Bambi! Killer Tinkerbell!
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The timing of this announcement just happens to lead into Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’s upcoming theatrical engagement, which runs March 26-28 via Fathom Events (look for tickets here); if you go, stick around for the end credits, which will include a sneak peek at Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. In the meantime, check out the relentlessly “go big or go home” energy in this new poster:
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Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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