After initially being set for a one night release, Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey's theatrical release is getting a major expansion. The upcoming horror film will present a dark twist on A.A. Milne's iconic children's books as a now-adult Christopher Robin returns to the Hundred Acre Wood after graduating from college and finds the eponymous bear and Piglet having turned feral and killed their friends and going on a murderous killing spree against Robin, his girlfriend, and a group of college women staying at a nearby home. Hailing from writer/director Rhys Frake-Waterfield in his feature debut, Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey has garnered widespread attention for its bizarre premise.
With just a month remaining until the film hits the big screens, Fathom Events has revealed that Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey's theatrical release is getting a major expansion. Initially slated for a one-night release on February 15, the ticketing website now reveals that the horror twist on the iconic childhood character will be showing from February 15-23 in over 1,500 theaters nationwide. Fathom Events CEO Ray Nutt wrote about the theatrical release's expansion in the following statement:
This film has been on our radar for several months and audience engagement continues to increase at remarkable rates. We’re excited about our inaugural partnership with ITN to bring horror fans something never seen before in the horror genre. Buckle up.
Will Winnie The Pooh's Viral Following Turn Into Box Office Success?
While a one-night release could have proven to be a strong pull for audiences to catch Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey on the big screen, a wider theatrical release could prove just as promising for the film's box office chances. 2022 proved to be one of the more profitable years for the horror genre in recent history, namely for such smaller projects as Damian Leone's Terrifier 2, Parker Finn's Smile, the James Wan-produced M3GAN, and the first two installments in Ti West's growing X franchise. While more name-brand releases enjoyed success on the big screen, including Jordan Peele's Nope and Radio Silence's Scream revival, audiences were clearly interested in seeing something more original from the horror genre, setting Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey up for success heading into the new year.
Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey marks an interesting continuation of the horror genre trend of twisting classic childhood characters, having been one of the first to be announced, but hitting theaters after the twist on Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the slasher The Mean One. Though enjoying a similar viral status as the upcoming Milne reimagining, The Mean One saw a far smaller theatrical release, being shown in just 162 theaters at the height of its release and bringing in just over $612k. Given The Mean One suffered from poor reviews ahead of the film's release, while no Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey reactions have hit the Internet at the time of writing, the latter's more expanded release should see it clear its prior counterpart, if not also stand out as a hit in its own right.
The wider theatrical release for Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey will also likely play a major factor in determining whether this horror genre trend explodes further in the mainstream. Frake-Waterfield has not only teased plans for a sequel to the upcoming film, but is also developing a horror-tinged Peter Pan adaptation subtitled Neverland Nightmare, and is producing a twisted version of Bambi, described as being in the same tonal vein as David Bruckner's The Ritual. Though the latter is already said to be in production, the former two could find themselves shelved should his directorial debut prove to be a poor performer at the box office. Only time will tell when Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey hits theaters on February 15.
Source: Fathom Events
