Filmmakers have continued venturing into Hundred Acre Wood to bring us melancholy dramas (Christopher Robin), an A.A. Milne biography (Goodbye Christopher Robin), and even a forthcoming R-rated horror (Blood & Honey), but now it looks as though we’re going to be returning to the recognisably wholesome world of Winnie the Pooh with the news that a prequel feature film is in development for the Honey-loving bear.
According to The Hollywood Reporter Beavis and Butt-Head director Mike de Seve is set to helm the film, which he will will co-write alongside John Reynolds (The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show). They intend to create something that’s in a similar vein to another successful literary bear, Paddington, and they hope to follow the film with a television series.
Reynolds told THR that they are “telling the surprising origin story of the ‘silly young bear’ and his friends, when they were still kids, in a way designed to connect with 21st-century kids.” De Seve, who also directed DreamWorks TV show Father of the Pride added “I think this unsinkable young cub is totally relatable for today’s kids, with his hell-bent craving for honey and his ludicrous schemes to get it.”
The last time Winnie the Pooh was front and centre in his own movie, before his rights entered the public realm earlier this year, was 2011’s Disney animation Winnie the Pooh, which struggled to just under $50 million worldwide. Disney also released the live-action CG-animated hybrid Christopher Robin in 2-18, which grossed almost $200 million worldwide.
Let us know whether this news makes you as excitable as Tigger, or if you think the idea is a load of old Pooh by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
