OH, BOTHER! Winnie the Pooh and Piglet star in a R-rated horror flick.
Say it isn’t so. A much-beloved childhood literary character and his sidekick have become the stars of a dark and grisly movie. It’s all because of the end of copyright protection and its entrance into the public domain.
In the 1920s, many copyright protections on content were introduced in the pop culture of the era. They were set up to expire 95 years later. That’s now. The characters of our childhood, and the childhoods of other generations, are in the public domain. Without copyright protection, it’s open season for screenwriters.
It’s not just Winnie the Pooh and his friend, Piglet, that have gone dark and murderous. The filmmaker behind “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” also has two other movies planned based on characters that are entering the public domain. Rhys Frake-Waterfield has “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare” and “Bambi: The Reckoning” in the works. Next year, Disney will lose Mickey Mouse. The exclusive rights to Mickey’s likeness as depicted in his first cartoon, Steamboat Willie will be in the public domain. In the next 10 years, Bug Bunny, Batman, and Superman will be up for grabs in the public domain, too.
To be fair, we’ve already had Yogi and Booboo star in an R-rated horror flick over a decade ago: