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Credit: DisneyIt seems as though 2024 may be the year of horror adaptations of classic children’s characters, at least if Jagged Edge Productions has anything to say about it.
The studio is behind the recent Winnie the Pooh adaptation, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) as well as the upcoming sequel, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 (2024). The horror remake was announced swiftly after the character reached the public domain in 2022. Earlier this year, Disney’s Steamboat Willie hit the public domain, and within hours, Disney’s iconic original mouse was the star of a violent video game and a horror movie adaptation.
However, it appears as though yet another beloved children’s character is getting a similar treatment now that J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan has joined Winnie and Steamboat Willie in the public domain. Earlier this week, Bloody Disgusting revealed a teaser image and new information about the upcoming horror movie Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare. The team behind this new flick is Jagged Edge Productions who are also behind Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. During the end-credits scene of Blood and Honey 2, the studio is expected to add a teaser for a wider “cinematic universe” of horror movies based on various fairy tales and children’s books, with other expected projects to include Bambi: The Reckoning and Pinocchio: Unstrung.
Because the movie is based on the original character and not the Disney movie released in 1953, it’s expected that there may not be any direct references to things original to the Disney feature and it’s expected that the film will feature a deranged evil Peter Pan and drug-addicted Tinker Bell. “Tinkerbell is not what you think. In our version she is hooked on heroin and convinced it’s Pixie Dust,” says director Scott Jeffrey. He describes the movie as a cross between Switchblade Romance (2003) and The Black Phone (2021) while also taking inspiration from French cinema. Unlike the original playful versions of the story or the childlike wonder of the Disney animation, Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare will be “a nasty, violent and incredibly dark movie.” Look at the casting so far confirms that Wendy, Tinker Bell, Michael, and James will all have roles in the film’s plot, which follows Wendy as she attempts to find her brother after his abduction by Peter Pan.
The Disney film has been considered controversial for years due to its portrayal of the Native Americans and now has a sensitivity content warning on Disney+. Peter Pan himself has been a dubious figure since the original 1920s stories thanks to his mischievous nature and “kidnapping” of the Lost Boys, although it’s safe to say he’s never been fully imagined as such a horrifying character before.
According to the report from Bloody Disgusting, several roles have already been cast: Megan Placito will be the film’s Wendy, Kit Green will be Tinkerbell, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney will be Michael, and Charity Kase will portray James. At this time, it appears as though Peter has yet to be cast. Filming is expected to start in May of this year with a release expected around Halloween 2024.
As more and more movies reach the public domain it will be expected to see beloved and classic children’s stories and films turned into twisted versions of themselves for adult amusement. With Jagged Edge Productions already hard at work on future adaptations, audiences can rest assured that there will be no lack of children’s stories turned horror films that nobody asked for but will likely go see anyway (Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey alone earned $5.2 million against its initial $100,000 budget). It looks like this “horrific” trend might be here to stay!
What do you think about this current trend for horror films? Will you be watching the new Peter Pan film? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!