The first Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey film has become quite notorious for turning several iconic literary characters into all-new horror villains. Of course, given the film’s limited budget, it didn’t quite reach its full potential. Now this is set to change with the upcoming sequel, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, which features new designs for its characters – some of which you can see below.
As shared via THR, director Rhys Frake-Waterfield was able to reveal that the characters will have all-new prosthetic makeup. In fact, the company behind the effects have worked on some of the biggest properties, including the Harry Potter and Star Wars franchises.
Here’s what he had to say about the “extra level of detail” the new prosthetics team was able to include:
“This time we have people doing the prosthetics — it’s a company that has worked on Harry Potter’s Voldemort and Star Wars. And they’ve been in charge of the redesigns of the creature. And that’s why Pooh looks a bit more scary. There’s an extra level of detail there.”
Frake-Waterfield further described the differences in budget. As it turns out, the makeup used for Pooh in the first film amounted to $770. This number blew up exponentially for the sequel. The team was able to spend as much as $20,000 on the character design. Fans can view a glimpse at this new design below:
Delighted to be able to share the first close-up image of the new-look bear in Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2. Isn’t he absolutely gorge? Phwoar. pic.twitter.com/J4XVRTyuzq
— Alex Ritman (@alexritman) November 3, 2023
In addition to Pooh and Piglet from the previous film, the sequel will have the opportunity to introduce new versions of Tigger and Owl. Moviegoers might recall that Tigger was absent from the previous outing, due to copyright issues, but the character has since fallen into the public domain. Now, like his counterparts, he will be reimagined for this horrific new story.
Fans can expect the new sequel to be released around February 2024.