When someone mentions Bambi to you, chances are Disney's beloved 1942 animated classic (which has traumatised many children in its own unique way) instantly comes to mind.
However, what you might not know is that the movie was based on the 1923 novel Bambi, a Life in the Woods by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten. Last year saw Bambi enter the public domain and while other studios aren't allowed to produce movies with Disney's version, they can put their own spin on Salten's!
Now, the team behind the budding Poohniverse has shared the first trailer for Bambi: The Reckoning (via FearHQ.com).
According to a brief synopsis, "We follow Xana (Roxanne McKee) and her son Benji (Tom Mulheron) who find themselves in a car wreck and soon hunted down by the vicious killing machine, Bambi."
The sneak peek shows us that Bambi is all grown up and an absolute beast...something tells us he has no love for humans after what happened to his mother, leading to the monstrous deer taking out his frustrations on poor Xana and Benji.
Last week, it was confirmed that Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 3 is also in the works. That will have an even bigger budget than its predecessors and promises to introduce new characters from the original Winnie-the-Pooh stories, including Rabbit, the heffalumps and the woozles. We expect them all to be given sadistic, murderous twists.
All of this is leading to Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble, a crossover which will bring together Winnie the Pooh, Bambi, Tinkerbell, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Tigger, Piglet, The Mad Hatter, and Sleeping Beauty for a blood-splattered crossover event heading to theaters in 2025.
"As horror fans, we would love an Avengers that is all villains," Jagged Edge's Scott Chambers recently told Variety. "It’d have Freddy Krueger, Jason, 'Halloween,' 'Scream,' all of those. Obviously that will never happen, but we can make it happen in our own little way, and that’s where this film has been born."
"Similar to The Avengers we will follow Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Owl, Piglet, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, The Mad Hatter, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell joining forces to wreak havoc," he added in a press release. "We are working with a larger scale budget on this one and are excited for what the future will hold. When you see the standalone movies you will see the easter eggs hinting toward the crossover."
Check out the trailer for Bambi: The Reckoning below.