Six years after “Avengers: Infinity War,” another film is vying to become the most ambitious crossover event in history, this time in the lower-budget cinematic realm.
The filmmakers behind “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” —the micro-budget slasher that sparked headlines for turning A. A. Milne’s jovial bear into a feral serial killer and made an incredible $5.2 million at the box office after costing under $50,000 to make —have unveiled “Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble,” bringing together Pooh and various other beloved children’s characters gone bad.
Where “Avengers: Infinity War” had Iron Man, Spider-Man, Black Panther and Thanos, “Poohniverse” —from prolific horror collaborators Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios — will team Winnie the Pooh with murderous versions of figures including Bambi, Tinkerbell, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Tigger, Piglet, The Mad Hatter and Sleeping Beauty for an IP-bludgeoning frenzy due for release in 2025. Indeed, on the poster, which PvNew is also able to exclusively reveal, Pooh is seen swinging a bear trap on a chain while riding a vicious, bloodthirsty Bambi. Because why not?
“As horror fans, we would love an Avengers that is all villains,” explained actor-producer Scott Chambers, who leads Jagged Edge. “It’d have Freddy Krueger, Jason, ‘Halloween,’ ‘Scream,’ all of those. Obviously that will never happen, but we can make it happen in our own little way, and that’s where this film has been born.”
Many of the characters set to appear in “Poohniverse” will first feature in standalone films coming this year and falling under Jagged Edge’s version of the MCU, the Twisted Childhood Universe. Among them are “Bambi: The Reckoning,” “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare” and “Pinocchio Unstrung,” plus last year’s “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” and its sequel “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2,” which is being released theatrically in the U.S. on March 26. The upcoming films will include various easter eggs linking them toward the upcoming horrifying crossover.
“We’ve got access to all these concepts so it’s like a self-contained bubble and we can do what we want with them,” says Rhys Jake-Waterfield, who directed “Blood and Honey” and “Blood and Honey 2,” and will helm “Poohniverse.” “So yeah, it’s really exciting.”
While the loose plot for “Poohniverse” will see the the monsters team up to take on the survivors from the previous films, there won’t be harmony within the ranks of the murderous ensemble, allowing for what Chambers describes as “carnage within the group” and “epic sequences of monster vs. monster.”
Casting is to include Chambers returning as Christopher Robin, Megan Plactio as Wendy Darling, Roxanne Mckee as Xana and Lewis Santer as Tigger, with more announcements to come.
“Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble” is a Jagged Edge Production with ITN Studios and Premiere Entertainment handling sales. Stuart Alson and Nicole Holland will serve as executive producers for ITN.
