“Not suitable for families”
Under US law, copyright expires 95 years after a work is first published.
The first “Winnie the Pooh” book came out in 1926. Only this version is in the public domain. Not so the distinctive features that were added to Pooh in later books or Disney movies, such as his red shirt or his fondness for the game of Poohsticks, or characters like Tiger, Pooh’s friend.
Beyond copyright, which prevents the unauthorized copying of a creative work but is limited in time, the feature film goes beyond trademark law.
The license held by Disney, renewable indefinitely, prohibits launching a product related to Winnie and that could be confused with the original. However, in this case, the absurdity of a Pooh as the protagonist of a horror movie helps the film’s producers.
Frake-Waterfield said he never intended to get close to Disney’s Pooh. “On the contrary. (…) I want Winnie the Pooh to be big and menacing and scary and intimidating and horrible. I don’t want him to be small and cute and cute.”
In the movie, Winnie and Piglet are abandoned by their friend Christopher Robin. Disappointed and enraged, they spiral into murderous madness.
This option does not seem to have been to the liking of many viewers, as an AFP journalist was able to verify at a screening in Mexico City this week.
Jonathan Ortiz, for example, a 32-year-old viewer, found the film “very bad.”
However, it is likely that neither the plot nor the critics’ comments matter much. The hype around the film has reached such a level that Frake-Waterfield is already preparing a sequel, as well as horror movies based on the “Bambi” and “Peter Pan” books.