But on January 1, 2022, Winnie-the-Pooh entered the public domain, as did the characters it contained, which gave writer/director Rhys Frake-Waterfield the legal permission to make his low-budget slasher Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey. And nobody, not even Disney, can stop him.
Is Disney involved with Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey?
Is Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey associated with Disney? Despite Milne's 1926 Winnie the Pooh book entering the public domain, Disney still owns exclusive use of their interpretations of Pooh Bear and his friends, according to Variety. "We've tried to be extremely careful," said Waterfield on the podcast.
Did Disney give permission for Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey?
Is 'Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey' from Disney? Disney isn't involved; Jagged Edge Productions made the film and ITN Studios will distribute it. So how, in the name of sweet honey, is this possible? Because Pooh and Piglet, introduced in the 1926 book "Winnie-the-Pooh," entered the public domain in 2022.
While Disney may no longer have copyright protection for Winnie the Pooh, there are still opportunities for legal recourse that Disney can take. Disney still maintains the rights to the Winnie the Pooh characters created after 1926, including Tigger.
Despite the title of the film including “Winnie the Pooh,” the movie is not suitable for children as it follows Winnie and Piglet on a blood-thirsty rampage after Christopher Robin abandons them for college.
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Why can Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey be made?
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey can be made as Disney no longer owns exclusive rights to the beloved children's book character. Created by author A. A. Milne and illustrator by E. H. Shephard, Pooh was introduced in Winnie-the-Pooh, a collection of short stories published in 1926.
The copyright protection for Winnie the Pooh will expire in 2022. Disney has made billions over the years from author A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh books since the company acquired the rights in 1961. While others can use the characters after the copyright expires, they can't just copy the Disney trademarks.
Well, the studio had no choice. That's because the 1926 storybook, titled Winnie-the-Pooh, which introduced the titular character, passed into the public domain at the start of 2022, voiding its copyright, and thus Disney's media exclusivity over the character.
This is because copyright has only expired for A.A. Milne's original story which features a 'Winnie-the-Pooh' character markedly different to the modern 'Winnie the Pooh' we are used to seeing today – and that portrait of Winnie is owned by Disney.
Despite being one of the most prominent characters in the source material, Tigger wasn't a part of the original Blood and Honey. The reason, as writer/director Rhys Frake-Waterfield told us earlier this year, was that Tigger wasn't a part of the public domain when the first movie was in production.
Why was Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey banned in China?
The censorship is believed to be a result of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Xi Jinping being compared to the character in Internet memes, which the Chinese government saw as a disrespectful mockery of the leader of its country.
In this adaption, Piglet alongside his closest friends Pooh, Owl, Rabbit and Tigger become barbaric serial killers after being abandoned by Christopher Robin, forcing them to devour their friend Eeyore. Piglet would assist Pooh in kidnapping, torturing and murdering anyone who enters Hundred Acre Woods.
What happened to Owl and Rabbit in Blood and Honey?
The absence of Owl and Rabbit suggests they may have escaped the Hundred Acre Wood to avoid the violent Pooh and Piglet, which opens up possibilities for their return and alliances in the sequel.
In addition to being a mix of human and bear, Frake-Waterfield's Pooh also has a touch of stuffed animal to him, too. He explained: “Inside they are a mix of human and a kind of Pooh bear interior. So they've got the blood, the've got the guts, but there's a bit of fluff floating around as well.
Who owns the rights to Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey?
Although Disney 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.
Thanks to copyright term extensions over the years, Disney still owns the rights for Milne's books and characters published after 1926 — including Tigger — as well as later materials published by the company using Milne's characters.
In 1928, copyrights lasted for 28 years, with the option for renewal of another 28 years. As of 2023, Mickey Mouse was published almost 95 years ago. The copyright of the original Mickey Mouse character – as it appeared in “Steamboat Willie” – expires on January 1, 2024.
According to US copyright law, the rights for a character expire 95 years after the publication of the original work. Disney will lose the Mickey Mouse copyright for Steamboat Willie in 2024, since the short animated film was produced and distributed in 1928.
All beneficiaries of the Pooh Properties Trust sold all of the rights to Pooh bear and the franchise to Disney for $350 million. Disney ended up winning the lawsuit against SSI for the merchandising rights to Winnie the Pooh in 2009, because of the 1983 contract that assigned all of the rights to Disney.
The beloved mouse that is nearly a century old will soon enter public domain — the original Mickey Mouse's copyright expires in 2024. This anthropomorphic mouse is recognizable even by the silhouette of his ears and, in some ways, has been the face of The Walt Disney Co. since his 1928 creation.
At the beginning, it explained that Pooh was in fact Christopher Robin's Edward Bear, who had been renamed by the boy. He was renamed after an American black bear at London Zoo called Winnie who got her name from the fact that her owner had come from Winnipeg, Canada.
Which Winnie the Pooh characters are in blood and honey?
A few familiar characters from the Hundred Acre Woods return briefly in Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey's horror twist, but only Pooh Bear, Piglet, and Christopher Robin appear as main figures.
