‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’ Director Brushes Off Razzie Awards Sweep: ‘I’m Surprised Our Micro-Budget Film Is Being Compared to Hollywood’

The director of “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” has taken his film’s clean sweep of the Razzie Awards on the (bloodied) chin.

The feature — a slasher horror that caused a stir last year for its childhood-bludgeoning premise in which A.A. Milne’s beloved, cuddly bear and his sidekick Piglet go on a cannibalistic rampage — dominated the awards, winning the top prize of worst picture, plus director and screenplay (for Rhys Frake-Waterfield), screen couple (for Pooh and Piglet) and remake/rip-off/sequel.

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“I’m surprised our micro-budget film is being compared to Hollywood, but nevertheless I don’t mind the dubious honor as it places me in the same pool as directors whose work I admire so much,” Frake-Waterfield told Variety.

The Razzies generally take aim at the expensive flops and fails of studios and A-list stars, but — as Frake-Waterfield notes — in focusing its attention on “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey,” it has singled out a movie made for under $50,000, considerably less than the average catering budget of its fellow nominees.

In the worst picture category, for example, it was up against “The Exorcist: Believer” (total budget: $30 million), “Expend4bles” ($100 million), “Meg 2: The Trench” ($129-139 million) and “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” ($110-$125 million). In the worst director category, Frake-Waterfield — for whom “Blood and Honey” marks his first theatrically-released feature — was joined by David Gordon Green, Peyton Reed, Scott Waugh and Ben Wheatley, all established filmmakers with significantly more experience.

Coincidentally, the Razzies were announced the weekend before the world premiere of “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2,” taking place on Monday in London’s Prince Charles Cinema. While the budget for the sequel is a major leap from the first outing, at under $1 million it’s still several million dollars less than most studio horrors. Nonetheless, Rhys-Waterfield says he’s looking forward to audiences seeing how they’ve spent the extra money on the new-look Pooh (and several other twisted IP additions to the fold).

“I’m really excited for people to see how much that’s improved,” he said.

“Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2” comes out in the U.S. on March 26 via Fathom Events.

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