Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey screenings in Hong Kong have been axed, with sources claiming the horror film won't be shown for technical reasons.

[Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey has continued](https://screenrant.com/winnie-pooh-blood-honey-survive-powers-michael-myers/) to prove itself a controversial movie. Due to Hong Kong's struggle to ensure independence from mainland China, screening a film featuring Pooh could be twisted into a political issue, which in turn would pose a perceived threat to their national security. [Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey](https://screenrant.com/tag/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey/) will no longer be screening in Hong Kong, with claims film screenings were canceled due to technical reasons. Winnie the Pooh has also been used as a symbol of protest against the Chinese government due to the censorship around the character. In 2021, a Hong Kong censorship law was put into effect to ensure films that could threaten the city's national security aren't screened in the country. Critically panned, the movie garnered notoriety because of its use of Winnie-the-Pooh characters as antagonists in a blood-soaked horror setting.

Over the course of the last few months, Rhys Waterfield's Winne the Pooh: Blood and Honey has been rolling out in theatrical markets all over the world, ...

The Winnie the Pooh of Winne the Pooh: Blood and Honey doesn't quite look like the classic Pooh (he's got tusks, for starters), but even still - the character's appearance in Wakefield's film might've been a bit too close for comfort. Some suggest the film's gore may have been the issue, but according to THR, a "cut" version of the film that removed much of Blood and Honey's gore was previously cleared by Hong Kong censors, and a screening was allowed to take place last week. The micro-budgeted slasher may not have pleased critics (honestly, was there ever a chance it would?), but it's become a low-key blockbuster for Waterfield and company, who made the film for just $100,000.

No reason given for last-minute withdrawal but is understood to have fallen foul of censors.

Hong Kong censors Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (OFNAA) had issued a certificate of approval for the film at the beginning of March. A sequel, written and directed by Frake-Waterfield, is already in the works. These 30+ screens in Hong Kong are the only ones with such issues.” Reportedly made for less than $100,000 by the UK’s Jagged Edge Productions, the story follows Pooh and Piglet as they turn feral and embark on a murderous rampage when Christopher Robin goes off to college. Milne’s 1926 book ‘Winnie-The-Pooh’ lapsed in the US on January 1 2022 and entered the public domain, leaving it open to interpretation. Images of Winnie the Pooh have also been associated with Chinese dissidents.

Viral microbudget slasher has been removed from cinemas in Hong Kong amid rumours of censorship from China.

The move mirrored instructions given by Beijing media regulators to mainland Chinese press outlets not to broadcast live coverage of the ceremony and play down reporting (believed to be over the nomination of short documentary Do Not Split about the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong). But it may well have become the first movie to have been censored in Hong Kong over China’s equally insane-sounding Pooh ban. In 2021, for the first time in 50 years, no Hong Kong broadcaster aired the Oscars, despite Derek Tsang’s Better Days being nominated for best THR hears a cut version, which had removed much of the film’s gore, had already passed through local censors in Hong Kong, while a secret screening took place there last week. The film has also reportedly been pulled from release in Macau. [The Green Knight](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/green-knight/) [Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel to Star in David Lowery’s Pop Epic ‘Mother Mary’ for A24](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/anne-hathaway-michaela-coel-david-lowerys-mother-mary-1235357541/) [Searchlight Pictures](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/searchlight-pictures/) [Film Independent Announces Inaugural Filmmakers for Imaginar Producers Residency (Exclusive)](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/film-independent-imaginar-producers-residency-1235357354/) [Behind The Screen](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/e/behind-the-screen/) [Sohonet Expanding Its Remote Collaboration Capabilities With Acquisition of 5th Kind](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sohonet-acquisition-5th-kind-remote-collaboration-1235357313/) [wasn’t approved by authorities in China](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/christopher-robin-refused-china-release-winnie-pooh-crackdown-1131907/). [international](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/international/) film. China has been cracking down hard on dissent and freedom of expression in Hong Kong since it introduced the National Security Law there in 2020, with anything overtly sensitive to the mainland now unlikely to be screened in the territory. [viral slasher hit](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey-horror-viral-release-1235255373/) Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey may have been left disappointed this week, with the film having been quietly pulled from theaters, a move that has fueled speculation about censorship over an apparent likeness between the children’s character and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. [U.S., U.K., Mexico, Russia and Australia to name just a few territories](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/winnie-the-pooh-blood-honey-mexico-box-office-1235318616/) — without any such technical hiccups. The Hollywood Reporter understands that the microbudget British film — in which Winnie and his sidekick Piglet go on a cannibalistic rampage through Hundred Acre Wood — was due to land in more than 30 cinemas in the city this Thursday, but has now been removed from schedules.

The screening of "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey", a British slasher film due to be released in Hong Kong this week, has been cancelled, its distributor ...

The film has showed in over 4,000 cinema screens worldwide. These 30+ screens in Hong Kong are the only ones with such issues." It won't be a coincidence," Frake-Waterfield said. Chinese censors have in the past targeted the film’s main character, originally created by English author A.A. Register for free to Reuters and know the full story It did not give details.

Slasher movie Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey saw its Hong Kong release being dropped just ahead of its Thursday debut.

Losing the Asian releases may not be ideal, but it certainly is not going to break the movie’s run of success too much. The slasher was granted a Category III rating by the classification board, which is the hardest rating that the movie could receive. Having been made on a micro-budget, the film has already delivered a comparatively huge box office to budget return, and an Asian market release was only going to add to that.

A viral horror movie based on Winnie the Pooh will not be released in Hong Kong or Macau.

It is due to be released in February 2024. The Guardian described the film as a “dashed-off operation with little to recommend it as cinema” A trailer for the movie features scenes where Piglet hits someone in the head with a mallet, Pooh kidnaps a woman, while the main characters try to escape the pair’s clutches. In the social media post, a spokesman for VII Pillars Entertainment said: “It is with great regret to announce the scheduled release of Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey in Hong Kong and Macau on March 23 has been cancelled. While the film has become a viral sensation, the slasher has not been as well received by critics. A viral horror movie based on Winnie the Pooh will not be released in Hong Kong or Macau.

On its Facebook page, the Hong Kong-based distributor said it was with “great regret” that the low-budget slasher would not meet its planned theatrical release ...

A sequel, written and directed by Frake-Waterfield, is already in the works. These 30+ screens in Hong Kong are the only ones with such issues.” Reportedly made for less than $100,000 by the UK’s Jagged Edge Productions, the story follows Pooh and Piglet as they turn feral and embark on a murderous rampage when Christopher Robin goes off to college. And we have not received notification from OFNAA to withdraw the film, nor any other issues about the film.” Milne’s 1926 book ‘Winnie-The-Pooh’ lapsed in the US on January 1 2022 and entered the public domain, leaving it open to interpretation. Images of Winnie the Pooh have also been used as a symbol of protest.

Hong Kong has canceled the release of a recently showcased horror movie - 'Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey without any detailed explanation.

[AA Milne](/topic/aa-milne), were due to memes comparing the bumbling bear to President Xi Jinping. [US News](/news/international/us), [UK News](/news/international/uk), [Canada News](/news/international/canada), International Breaking News Events, and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) [Winnie the Pooh: Blood](/topic/winnie-the-pooh:-blood)and [Honey](/topic/honey)," has announced on Tuesday that the movie's screening in [Hong Kong](/topic/hong-kong)this week has been canceled, without providing any explanation for the decision.

Cinemagoers in Hong Kong looking to have their childhoods potentially ruined by viral slasher hit Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey may have been left ...