Even though A.A. Milne's well-loved Winnie the Pooh characters have now entered the public domain, the lovably bumbling bear is somehow still being held down by the man. British horror film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey has had screenings cancelled in Hong Kong — where it was due for release this week — according to its distributor.
Without giving a reason for pulling the film, VII Pillars Entertainment wrote on Facebook yesterday (March 21) that it is with "great regret" that Blood and Honey's March 23 scheduled release had been cancelled.
While no further details were provided, a censorship law came into effect in Hong Kong in 2021 that bars films that "endorse, support, glorify, encourage and incite activities that might endanger national security" [via The Guardian].
Before that, in 2018, the live-action Christopher Robin Disney film was banned from release in China. The summer beforehand, Chinese authorities had begun cracking down on images of Winnie the Pooh's titular character, blocking them on social media — all because resistors of the ruling Communist Party were drawing comparisons between the bear and President Xi Jinping online.
So it's likely not a stretch to think that Chinese authorities have blocked the Rhys Waterfield-directed Pooh slasher flick because of the likeness between the bear and the president. Oh, bother.
This comparison has actually been observed for nearly a decade: in 2013, President Xi Jinping travelled to the US to meet then-president and year-end list enthusiast Barack Obama. Photos of the two leaders walking together reminded people of Pooh and his lanky, spring-filled pal Tigger, and some foes of the Communist Party have used Pooh's image as a signal of dissent ever since.
Without giving a reason for pulling the film, VII Pillars Entertainment wrote on Facebook yesterday (March 21) that it is with "great regret" that Blood and Honey's March 23 scheduled release had been cancelled.
While no further details were provided, a censorship law came into effect in Hong Kong in 2021 that bars films that "endorse, support, glorify, encourage and incite activities that might endanger national security" [via The Guardian].
Before that, in 2018, the live-action Christopher Robin Disney film was banned from release in China. The summer beforehand, Chinese authorities had begun cracking down on images of Winnie the Pooh's titular character, blocking them on social media — all because resistors of the ruling Communist Party were drawing comparisons between the bear and President Xi Jinping online.
So it's likely not a stretch to think that Chinese authorities have blocked the Rhys Waterfield-directed Pooh slasher flick because of the likeness between the bear and the president. Oh, bother.
This comparison has actually been observed for nearly a decade: in 2013, President Xi Jinping travelled to the US to meet then-president and year-end list enthusiast Barack Obama. Photos of the two leaders walking together reminded people of Pooh and his lanky, spring-filled pal Tigger, and some foes of the Communist Party have used Pooh's image as a signal of dissent ever since.
