Several times in the past, Chinese censors have targeted the Winnie the Pooh character, which was originally conceptualised by the English author AA Milne, ...
The screening of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey has reportedly been cancelled for technical reasons in Hong Kong, according to local streaming websites. At the time, some trolls compared the two to Pooh and Tigger. Several other websites and media also reported the cancellation of screenings.
Distributor gives no reason for cancellation, but Chinese censors have targeted Pooh before due to Xi Jinping comparisons.
Hong Kong’s Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration told Reuters that it had issued a certificate of approval to the applicant. Some films have been prevented from being shown in the Chinese special administrative region. It did not give further details.
The Hong Kong theatrical release of 'Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey' is canceled for reasons that could be technical or political.
The film was to be distributed in Hong Kong by indie outfit VII Pillars and was scheduled for release on Thursday. The most far-reaching of these has been the National Security Law injected into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law, in mid 2020. We are sorry for the disappointment and inconvenience,” it wrote on Facebook. Jagged Edge says the film “follows Pooh and Piglet as they go on a rampage after Christopher Robin abandons them for college.” “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” was produced by the U.K.’s Jagged Edge Productions and written, directed and produced by Rhys Frake-Waterfield. China did not permit the import and release of Disney’s 2018 Winnie the Pooh film “Christopher Robin.”
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey screenings in Hong Kong have been axed, with sources claiming the horror film won't be shown for technical reasons.
[Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey has continued](https://screenrant.com/winnie-pooh-blood-honey-survive-powers-michael-myers/) to prove itself a controversial movie. Due to Hong Kong's struggle to ensure independence from mainland China, screening a film featuring Pooh could be twisted into a political issue, which in turn would pose a perceived threat to their national security. [Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey](https://screenrant.com/tag/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey/) will no longer be screening in Hong Kong, with claims film screenings were canceled due to technical reasons. Winnie the Pooh has also been used as a symbol of protest against the Chinese government due to the censorship around the character. In 2021, a Hong Kong censorship law was put into effect to ensure films that could threaten the city's national security aren't screened in the country. Critically panned, the movie garnered notoriety because of its use of Winnie-the-Pooh characters as antagonists in a blood-soaked horror setting.
Over the course of the last few months, Rhys Waterfield's Winne the Pooh: Blood and Honey has been rolling out in theatrical markets all over the world, ...
The Winnie the Pooh of Winne the Pooh: Blood and Honey doesn't quite look like the classic Pooh (he's got tusks, for starters), but even still - the character's appearance in Wakefield's film might've been a bit too close for comfort. Some suggest the film's gore may have been the issue, but according to THR, a "cut" version of the film that removed much of Blood and Honey's gore was previously cleared by Hong Kong censors, and a screening was allowed to take place last week. The micro-budgeted slasher may not have pleased critics (honestly, was there ever a chance it would?), but it's become a low-key blockbuster for Waterfield and company, who made the film for just $100,000.
Slasher movie Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey saw its Hong Kong release being dropped just ahead of its Thursday debut.
Losing the Asian releases may not be ideal, but it certainly is not going to break the movie’s run of success too much. The slasher was granted a Category III rating by the classification board, which is the hardest rating that the movie could receive. Having been made on a micro-budget, the film has already delivered a comparatively huge box office to budget return, and an Asian market release was only going to add to that.
Viral microbudget slasher has been removed from cinemas in Hong Kong amid rumours of censorship from China.
The move mirrored instructions given by Beijing media regulators to mainland Chinese press outlets not to broadcast live coverage of the ceremony and play down reporting (believed to be over the nomination of short documentary Do Not Split about the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong). But it may well have become the first movie to have been censored in Hong Kong over China’s equally insane-sounding Pooh ban. In 2021, for the first time in 50 years, no Hong Kong broadcaster aired the Oscars, despite Derek Tsang’s Better Days being nominated for best THR hears a cut version, which had removed much of the film’s gore, had already passed through local censors in Hong Kong, while a secret screening took place there last week. The film has also reportedly been pulled from release in Macau. [The Green Knight](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/green-knight/) [Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel to Star in David Lowery’s Pop Epic ‘Mother Mary’ for A24](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/anne-hathaway-michaela-coel-david-lowerys-mother-mary-1235357541/) [Searchlight Pictures](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/searchlight-pictures/) [Film Independent Announces Inaugural Filmmakers for Imaginar Producers Residency (Exclusive)](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/film-independent-imaginar-producers-residency-1235357354/) [Behind The Screen](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/e/behind-the-screen/) [Sohonet Expanding Its Remote Collaboration Capabilities With Acquisition of 5th Kind](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sohonet-acquisition-5th-kind-remote-collaboration-1235357313/) [wasn’t approved by authorities in China](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/christopher-robin-refused-china-release-winnie-pooh-crackdown-1131907/). [international](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/international/) film. China has been cracking down hard on dissent and freedom of expression in Hong Kong since it introduced the National Security Law there in 2020, with anything overtly sensitive to the mainland now unlikely to be screened in the territory. [viral slasher hit](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey-horror-viral-release-1235255373/) Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey may have been left disappointed this week, with the film having been quietly pulled from theaters, a move that has fueled speculation about censorship over an apparent likeness between the children’s character and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. [U.S., U.K., Mexico, Russia and Australia to name just a few territories](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/winnie-the-pooh-blood-honey-mexico-box-office-1235318616/) — without any such technical hiccups. The Hollywood Reporter understands that the microbudget British film — in which Winnie and his sidekick Piglet go on a cannibalistic rampage through Hundred Acre Wood — was due to land in more than 30 cinemas in the city this Thursday, but has now been removed from schedules.