Countless cherished characters have passed into public domain before, but perhaps never so abruptly and savagely as Pooh.
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Pooh, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Eeyore and Christopher Robin all became public domain on January 1, 2022 when the copyright on A.A. Milne’s 1926 book, Winnie-the-Pooh, with illustrations by E.H. Shepard, expired.
Just a year later, Pooh and Piglet can now be found on a murderous rampage in cinemas across the United States – a head-spinning development that’s happened faster than a bear could say “Oh, bother”.
Depending on how you look at it, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is either a crass way to capitalise on a beloved bear or an ingenious bit of independent filmmaking foresight. Either way, it’s probably a harbinger of what’s to come.
In the next 10 years, some of the most iconic characters in pop culture – including Bugs Bunny, Batman and Superman – will pass into public domain, or at least their most early incarnations.
Some elements of Pooh are still off-limits, like his red T-shirt, since they apply to later interpretations. Tigger, who debuted in 1928’s The House at Pooh Corner, isn’t public until 2024.
Many have January 1, 2024 circled. That’s when the original version of Mickey Mouse, from Steamboat Willie, becomes public domain. It will be open season on the face of the Walt Disney Co – or at least that early whistling variety of Mickey.
Pop culture, as a concept, was born in the 1920s, meaning many of the most indelible – and still very culturally present – works will fall into public domain in the coming years.
There will be all kinds of new and unlikely contexts for some of these characters. Some could be wonderful, some schlocky. But Winnie Pooh: Blood and Honey, which was made for less than US$100,000, may just be a taste of what’s in store.
“When Superman and Batman fall into the public domain, there’s going to be some wild films, I’m sure of it,” says Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey writer, director and co-producer Rhys Waterfield. “There’s going to be so many different and cool unique iterations coming off that. I might do one.”
In a 2021 tally of media franchises by Statista, Winnie the Pooh, with US$80.3 billion in worldwide revenue, tied Mickey Mouse for No. 3, trailing only Pokémon and Hello Kitty. But unlike them, Pooh accounts for a veritable religion for his kind-hearted witticisms and contented spiritual outlook.Pooh is as much a gentle sage as he is a round-tummied toon. When Waterfield realised Pooh was entering public domain, “I had a spark in my eye,” he says.
Here was much-coveted intellectual property that could sell just about any film. “I’ve never met anyone that doesn’t know who Winnie the Pooh is,” Waterfield says.
But not everyone has been so happy about the idea of one of the most benevolent bears turning feral monster. Waterfield says he receives daily messages telling him he’s evil, and even some death threats. One person said they were calling the police.
“You’ve got to be pretty thick-skinned to do a movie like this,” Waterfield says. “It baffles me. People think making an alternative version of him is somehow infiltrating their mind and destroying their memories.
“When I get claims that I ruined people’s childhoods, I’m genuinely confused. I just kind of brush it off and carry on making more of them.”
Waterfield is already planning sequels with Peter Pan, Bambi and many more. (The Felix Salten book Bambi, A Life in the Woods also became public domain in 2022.)
Jennifer Jenkins, a professor of law and director of the Centre for the Study of Public Domain at Duke Law School, in the US, is used to operating in a relatively quiet and Byzantine realm of copyright law and thorny rights issues.
She writes an annual January 1 column for “Public Domain Day”. But nothing has caused her phone to ring off the hook quite like Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.
The movie has clearly touched a nerve; millions have watched its trailer online. And Jenkins, a firm believer in the long-range benefits of public domain, has been somewhat bemused by the storm that has been kicked up.
She compares public-domain issues like these to the way free speech is a right, regardless of whether you agree with what’s said.
“Some uses of public domain material will be welcome to some and disturbing to others,” Jenkins says. “But I don’t think new content uniformly saps the value of the original work.
“I have the original books. I adore them. The fact that this slasher film is out there has no effect whatsoever on how I feel about A.A. Milne’s original creation or E.H. Shepard’s pencil sketches.”
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It’s worth noting that much of the Disney empire was, itself, built on public domain. Beauty and the Beast comes from Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s 1756 version of the fairy tale. Sleeping Beauty came from Charles Perrault’s 1697 fairy tale. Aladdin comes from the 1888 folk-tale collection The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.
Though Jenkins can’t think of too many characters who had such a jarring entry to public domain as Pooh, films like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) and the 2021 book The Great Gatsby Undead are reference points.“People love adding zombies to public-domain works,” she says.
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