Critically Panned ‘Winnie-the-Pooh: Bloody and Honey’ Is a Horror Hit

There’s a rumbly in a surprising number of tumblies.

As it turns out, ruthlessly ruining childhoods while garnering negative reviews can prove to be a path to success, as evident in the box office performance of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey. According to Deadline, the film (made possible thanks to the original A.A. Milne shorts having entered the public domain) brought in about $1.6 million in the U.S. during its first week in theaters.

Looking at the global numbers, per Box Office Mojo, Blood and Honey has brought in $1.1 million, bringing the worldwide total to $2.7 million at the time of this writing. Of course, if this were Avatar or Ant-Man we were talking about, these hauls would not be viewed as victories. But Blood and Honey, notably, is a low-budget independent production. In fact, as Entertainment Weekly reported this month, the film’s budget is believed to have been less than $100,000.

In other words, Blood and Honey is already a hit. At least it is commercially speaking, as critics have largely panned the film, which led to its current Metacritic score of 17. 

As expected, a Blood and Honey sequel has already been confirmed to be on the way. Rhys Frake-Waterfield, who directed the first one, told EW this month that he’s aiming for a substantially higher budget this time around. Securing more money, the writer/director explained, would help the next entry compete with decidedly higher-budget fare.