Fans Fed Up With This Childhood Classic Getting Butchered Once Again
Since Winnie-the-Pooh became a public domain, it went very dark very fast.
At the beginning of 2022, Disney lost its media exclusivity on the Winnie-the-Pooh characters, originally created by A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard in 1925.
Since then, the characters have been in the public domain, meaning that anyone can use them in their own projects without fear of copyright infringement.
Things started to get out of hand pretty quickly, as it was announced back in May that Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, an independent British slasher film, was in development.
It portrayed the characters of Pooh and Piglet as murderous psychopaths who hunted down a group of university students.
Although the movie was extremely bad, universally despised by critics and audiences alike, the notoriety it received from using the famous characters only helped it become a financial success due to its low production value and quality.
Now, another "dark reimagining" of the classic story is on the horizon, as an R-rated live-action/animated hybrid TV series is in development by Boat Rocker Studios.
It will focus on Christopher Robin, who lives in a New York apartment complex and talks to animals out of his drug-induced delusions. Yep, you read that right.
It immediately sparked a backlash from fans who remember the previous disaster all too well.
They say that this synopsis is extremely stupid and lazy, and feels like it was written by an edgy teenager.
Fans believe that if the creators wanted to make an adult story, they should have written something original instead of shamelessly using the iconic characters for cheap publicity and shock value.
This situation proves once again the sad state of the Winnie-the-Pooh world, where literally anyone can push a cheap product, insert the familiar characters, spice it up with shocking details, and make a quick buck.
Hate Disney all you want, but at least they cared enough to create something decent.
Pretty much every person who grew up on Winnie the Pooh stories agrees that when copyrighted material becomes public domain, people should be smart about how they use it, not greedier than the mega-corporation that used to own it.
Source: Reddit