Sorry, but it looks like mining the public domain for quick bucks is the new trend in low-budget horror. Following the success of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) and the launch of its ‘Twisted Childhood Universe‘ à la the Marvel Cinematic Universe, more filmmakers are grabbing everyone’s cute childhood memories and turning them into nightmares. Unsurprisingly, Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh will be duking it out sooner rather than later.
Deadline dropped the exclusive on May 1, highlighting the upcoming crossover horror movie won’t have any ties to pre-existing flicks such as the Blood and Honey features or Mickey’s Mouse Trap, which was promptly announced just as the classic Steamboat Willie cartoon hit the public domain in January.
So far, the exploitation of these childhood characters in mature yet puerile fashion – with tons of blood and homages to low-budget horror fare – has proven to be a profitable endeavor, with the first Blood and Honey movie making roughly $5 million worldwide at the box office on a measly $50,000 production budget. While the quality was certainly up for debate, it’s easy to see why some aspiring filmmakers may take this route to put their name out there and gradually go bigger. It remains to be seen, however, whether the joke holds up in the long run and bigger distributors show an interest in such projects.