A year has gone by since we heard that Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3 was moving ahead. It was said that this sequel will have a bigger budget than either of its predecessors, and “will introduce new characters from the original Winnie-the-Pooh stories, including Rabbit, the heffalumps and the woozles.” Now, Variety has learned who’s writing the screenplay – and it’s quite an unexpected choice. The writer of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3 is Richard Stanley, the filmmaker known for writing and directing Hardware, writing and directing Dust Devil, and co-writing and almost directing The Island of Dr. Moreau, but getting fired and replaced by director John Frankenheimer four days into production. Stanley appeared to be making a long-awaited comeback with his 2019 H.P. Lovecraft adaptation Color Out of Space, but then came multiple domestic violence allegations and a libel lawsuit against his accusers.
Scott Chambers and Rhys Frake-Waterfield are producing the Winnie the Pooh horror sequel for Jagged Edge. Although Frake-Waterfield directed the first two films, Chambers will be replacing him at the helm for the third film.
Chambers provided the following statement: “I’ve always been a huge fan of Color Out of Space and all of Richard’s work. Now, with the third installment underway, I can’t wait to see his wild new vision come to life. Work has already begun — and it promises to take everything to an entirely new level.” Stanley added, “I am wildly excited to be joining Scott Chambers and his creative team as screenwriter on the mind-wrenching third installment of a beloved, blood-soaked saga that has revitalized independent genre film production in the U.K. The hundred acre wood will never be the same again!“
The Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey films are part of a cinematic universe called with other horror movies inspired by children’s stories, like Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, Bambi: The Reckoning, and Pinocchio Unstrung, and it’s building up to the crossover movie Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. Poohniverse is set to start filming in March, and Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3 will also be filming next spring.
Frake-Waterfield wrote the first Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, then brought in Matt Leslie, writer/producer of Summer of 84, to write the screenplay for the second movie. Now we have Richard Stanley writing Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3. What do you think of this news? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
