A new Winnie-the-Pooh series is now in the works, though the children's story will receive a far more adult tone.
Per Variety, Boat Rocker Studios is working on an R-rated animated/live-action hybrid Winnie-the-Pooh adaptation called Christopher Robin with Shamier Anderson and Stephan James' Bay Mills Studios. The official logline for the series reads, "Christopher Robin is a disillusioned New Yorker navigating his quarter-life crisis with the help of the weird talking animals who live beyond a drug-induced portal outside his derelict apartment complex, the Hundred Acres."
Shrek 2 and Sausage Party director Conrad Vernon will helm the pilot episode and serve as executive producer with a script from Foreign Relations writer Charlie Kesslering. Nick Nantell joins Anderson and James as producer. Nantell touched a little on the project, saying, "There are few characters more iconic and known the world over for their adventures together than Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh." Anderson and James continued that sentiment, saying, "This project takes everything you think you know about Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh and creates something completely fresh and undeniably funny."
Winnie the Pooh Enters the Public Domain
Christopher Robin comes as the second adaptation based on A. A. Milne's children's stories since Winnie-the-Pooh entered the public domain in 2022. The Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 ensures that copyright protections remain on stories for the first 95 years after their initial publication, allowing the content of such works to be adapted without the standard permissions for other literature. However, by the rules of the law, only the stories and characters from the original novel are now in the public domain; Tigger, who first appeared in 1928's The House at Pooh Corner, won't join the others until 2024.
Winnie the Pooh's R-Rated Horror Film
The first filmed adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh since it hit the public domain is also an R-rated feature. Earlier this year, the independent slasher Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey debuted to some of the worst reviews in Rotten Tomatoes history, sitting at 3% position with 58 critics, though it fared much better with audiences that gave it 50%. Despite the poor reviews, the film's official Twitter page announced that Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey would receive a sequel. It's unclear if director Rhys Frake-Waterfield will return, or its stars, Craig David Dowsett (Winnie-the-Pooh), Chris Cordell (Piglett) and Nikolai Leon (Christopher Robin).
The Christopher Robin television series does not yet have a release date.
Source: Variety