Made on a budget of less than $100,000, director Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s movie Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (watch it HERE) earned more than $6 million during its global release in early 2023, so not only did the sequel Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 have a substantially higher budget, that success opened the door to an entire cinematic universe that will consist of at least one more Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey sequel and other horror movies inspired by children’s stories, like Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, Bambi: The Reckoning, and Pinocchio: Unstrung. Premiere Entertainment is currently presenting Pinocchio: Unstrung to potential buyers at the Cannes Film Market – and Variety was able to learn more information on the project, including the fact that the movie will be made with “little reliance on VFX and feature the character of Pinocchio as a practical doll. Todd Masters of MastersFx, creator of the version of Chucky seen in the 2019 Child’s Play remake, will be heading up the animatronics and puppetry. The Prosthetics Studio, which has worked on the Star Wars and Harry Potter franchises, will be providing the practical gore.
Frake-Waterfield is set to direct Pinocchio: Unstrung, with filming expected to begin in September. The plan is to release the finished film into the world sometime in January 2025.
Frake-Waterfield told Variety, “This will be an extremely unique and R-rated depiction of Pinocchio. Featuring a high kill count, a subversion of the original story, and lots of practical gore. I’m going to welcome Pinocchio into the Poohniverse with a bang.” He also gave away that one scene will involve Pinnochio wearing the skin of a victim so he can feel like a real boy.
Although this cinematic universe is officially called The Twisted Childhood Universe, it’s building up to a crossover movie called Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble, which will show the likes of Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Owl, Piglet, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, The Mad Hatter, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell sharing the screen. That movie is also aiming for a 2025 release.
Pinocchio: Unstrung and the rest of the Twisted Childhood movies are coming our way from Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios.
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