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| Winnie the Pooh | |
|---|---|
| Disney'sWinnie the Pooh character | |
 | |
| First appearance | Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) |
| Based on | |
| Adapted by | Walt Disney Eric Larson |
| Voiced by |
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| In-universe information | |
| Nickname |
|
| Species | Teddy Bear |
| Gender | Male |
| Origin | Winnie-the-Pooh byA. A. Milne |
Winnie the Pooh (also known asPooh Bear, or simplyPooh) is a fictionalbear and the main character inDisney'sWinnie the Pooh franchise, based on the characterWinnie-the-Pooh created by English authorA. A. Milne and English artist and book illustratorE. H. Shepard, being one of the most popular characters adapted for film and television byThe Walt Disney Company. Disney first received certainlicensing rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, characters, andtrademarks fromStephen Slesinger, Inc. and theestate of A. A. Milne in 1961. Winnie the Pooh is one of the most popular characters adapted for film and one of Disney's most popular characters, especially in terms of merchandising.
In 1961,Walt Disney Productions licensed certain film and other rights to theWinnie-the-Pooh characters, stories and trademarks fromStephen Slesinger, Inc. and the estate ofA. A. Milne. and made a series of animated films about him. These early films were based on several of the original stories and the distinctive artwork made popular by Stephen Slesinger, Inc. during the 1930s through the 1960s. Alongside the animated versions, which Disney adapted from Slesinger, Slesinger's simplified lines and pastel color adaptations ofShepard's original illustrations are now marketed under the description "Classic Pooh".
In 1977, Disney released the animated feature filmThe Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, introducing a new character namedGopher (which Gopher acknowledges by proclaiming, "I'm not in the book, you know"). The film constitutes three stories originally released as separate featurettes:Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966),Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), andWinnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974). The 1977 release featured new bridging material and a new ending. A fourth featurette,Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, was released in 1983.
The live-action TV seriesWelcome to Pooh Corner ran on theDisney Channel from 1983 to 1986. In 1988, Disney launched an animated TV seriesThe New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which aired from 1988 to 1991 with a total of 83 episodes. Pooh appeared with Tigger in the anti-drug animated TV specialCartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.
In 2000, Disney released the feature filmThe Tigger Movie in which the character of Tigger played the leading role. Due to its success, two more feature-length Pooh movies based on other characters were released to theaters:Piglet's Big Movie in 2003 andPooh's Heffalump Movie in 2005. Pooh also made appearances in episodes of the animated seriesHouse of Mouse, however he doesn't have any speaking lines and is mostly seen in the background.
Disney, along withShadow Projects produced a puppet TV series for preschoolers, calledThe Book of Pooh which aired on Playhouse Disney from 2001 to 2003. Disney produced another series for preschoolers, calledMy Friends Tigger & Pooh, which aired on Playhouse Disney from 2007 to 2010 and done in CGI. Pooh also makes a cameo appearance in theDreamWorks animated film,Bee Movie along withPiglet, at one point, a man spies Pooh and Piglet eating honey and Barry tells him to "take him out" with a tranquilizer dart.
Winnie the Pooh was released in 2011. In April 2015, Deadline reported that Disney would develop a live action Winnie the Pooh movie withBrigham Taylor producing andAlex Ross Perry writing. The film focuses both on Pooh and the adult Christopher Robin returning to the Hundred Acre Woods and his reunion with Pooh and friends.[1]Christopher Robin was released on August 3, 2018 byWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in the United States.
Sterling Holloway was the original voice of Pooh, starting with the 1966 theatricalfeaturette,Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, although theDisneyland Records version was actually released in 1965.[2] Holloway continued to voice the character for over a decade, which included the next two theatrical featurettes,Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968) andWinnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974), as well as several albums for Disneyland Records.[3] Holloway's last performance as Pooh was for the bridging material inThe Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977).
Hal Smith, who also voicedOwl in the original theatrical featurettes, took over as the voice of Pooh in 1977, starting with theDisney Read-Along adaptation ofWinnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.[4] His first performance as Pooh in animation was for the 1981 short,Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons.[5] He would continue to voice Pooh regularly for various projects up until the late 1980s, which included the theatrical featuretteWinnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983) and the TV seriesWelcome to Pooh Corner. He briefly reprised the role again in 1989 for theWelcome to Pooh Corner television specialsResponsible Persons andOne and Only You.
Jim Cummings was chosen to voice the character for the 1988 TV series,The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.[5] Cummings has since become the official voice for the character, having voiced him in various TV series, video games, and movies, including the 2018live-action film,Christopher Robin.[5]
Pooh is a common character in theDisney Parks and the most common in theWinnie the Pooh franchise. He is also usually seen withTigger andEeyore, and occasionallyPiglet, and is mainly located inFantasyland.
In theSorcerers of the Magic Kingdom attraction, Pooh has his own spell card known as "Winnie the Pooh's Honey Bees." Pooh also has his own show inDisneyland Paris, called "Winnie the Pooh and Friends, too!." In the same park, Pooh takes part on his own float in DisneyMagic on Parade.
In the 2015 rendition ofWorld of Color, Pooh made acameo appearance during the opening sequence, in honor ofWalt Disney.
During his lifetime, Milne was liberal with his grant of rights. At times helicensed the sameexclusive rights to more than one entity.
In the United States,E. P. Dutton and Company acquired exclusive volume publication rights and Stephen Slesinger, Inc., acquired sole and exclusive rights to virtually all uses outside of the Dutton books as well as rights to any sorts of future uses. Beginning in 1930 Stephen Slesinger created all of the distinctive and colorful images of Pooh outside of the books. Under license from Slesinger, Pooh made his debuts in radio, film, animation, children's theatre, advertising and a host of consumer products and services protected by trademark. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, Milne retained most of his literarycopyright rights which he left to four beneficiaries of his trust: TheGarrick Club,Westminster School,The Royal Literary Fund and the A. A. Milne Family. By direction of Milne'swill, the Pooh Properties Trust was formed. Mrs. Milne,trustee of the MilneEstate, and Spencer Curtis Brown, Trustee, licensed certain exclusivefilm rights to Disney in 1961.Christopher Robin Milne sold his rights to the other copyright holders, in order to raise money to support his daughter, before his death in 1996.
Sometime around 2000, the Pooh Properties Trust licensed additional rights to Disney and accepted a buyout of their claims to royalties as defined in a 1991 lawsuit brought by Stephen Slesinger, Inc. Although Slesinger's rights are arguably more valuable, the combined value paid by Disney to The Pooh Properties Trust is said to be approximately $300 million for Milne's portion of those rights.
To further minimize Disney's legal exposure to Slesinger, Disney paid money to the Pooh Properties attorneys and trusts to use the name of Clare Milne, daughter of Christopher Robin, in an attempt to terminate certain of the copyright rights of Stephen Slesinger Inc, in the wake of theSonny BonoCopyright Term Extension Act of 1998. The district court found in favor of Stephen Slesinger, Inc., as did theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.[6] On June 26, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, thus sustaining the Appeals Court ruling.[7]
In December 2005, Disney announced that Pooh's friend and ownerChristopher Robin would be replaced as Pooh's main friend by a six-year-old "tomboyish"red-haired girlDarby for theDisney Channelanimated television series,My Friends Tigger & Pooh. Christopher Robin appeared intermittently in the series.
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In 2002,TV Guide compiled a list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time as part of themagazine's 50th anniversary. Winnie the Pooh was given the honor of number 27.
On April 11, 2006, Pooh was honored with a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame, being the fourth Disney character to receive one afterMickey Mouse,Snow White andDonald Duck. The star is located on 6834 Hollywood Blvd.
Winnie the Pooh has been used inpolitical satire and has created controversies inChina since 2013. In that year, critics compared an image of Pooh and his friendTigger to a picture ofChinese leaderXi Jinping andUSpresidentBarack Obama, who met at theG20 inSaint Petersburg,Russia.
Cartoons of Xi as Winnie the Pooh were regarded as disrespectful, but they continued to be used by critics. DissidentLiu Xiaobo and his wifeLiu Xia were photographed holding Pooh mugs as an act of protest. Some commentators have speculated that the movieChristopher Robin has been banned in China as a result of these controversies.[8][9]
The following games are based onDisney's Winnie the Pooh; Pooh also appears in the Square Enix/Disney crossover seriesKingdom Hearts.
| Main title / alternate title(s) | Developer | Release date | System(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood | Sierra On-Line | 1984 | Amiga,Apple II,Atari ST,Commodore 64,MS-DOS |
| A Year at Pooh Corner | Novotrade,Sega | 1994 | Pico |
| Ready for Math with Pooh | Disney Interactive Studios | 1997 | Microsoft Windows |
| Ready to Read with Pooh | Disney Interactive Studios | 1997 | Microsoft Windows |
| Tigger's Honey Hunt | Doki Denki, NewKidCo | 2000 | PlayStation, Windows,Nintendo 64 |
| Winnie the Pooh: Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood | Tose, NewKidCo | 2000 | Game Boy Color |
| Disney's Winnie the Pooh: Preschool | Hi Corp, Atlus | 2001 | PlayStation |
| Disney's Pooh's Party Game: In Search of the Treasure | Doki Denki, SCEE,Electronic Arts, Tomy Corporation | 2001 | PlayStation, Windows |
| Kuma no Pooh-San: Mori no Nakamato 123 | Atlus | 2001 | PlayStation |
| Pooh and Tigger's Hunny Safari | Digital Eclipse, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft | 2001 | Game Boy Color |
| Disney's Winnie the Pooh's Rumbly Tumbly Adventure | Hi Corp, Atlus | 2002 | PlayStation |
| Piglet's Big Game | Doki Denki Studio, Disney Interactive Studios, THQ, Gotham Games | 2003 | GameCube,PlayStation 2,Game Boy Advance |
| Pooh's Hunny Pot Challenge | Walt Disney Internet Group | 2003 | Mobile phone |
| Pooh's Pairs | Walt Disney Internet Group | 2003 | Mobile phone |
| Tigger's Bouncin' Time | Walt Disney Internet Group | 2003 | Mobile phone |
| Pooh's Hunny Blocks | Walt Disney Internet Group | 2003 | Mobile phone |
| Winnie the Pooh's Rumbly Tumbly Adventure | Phoenix Games Studio, Ubisoft | 2005 | Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, mobile phone |
| Kuma no Pooh-San: 100 Acre no Mori no Cooking Book | Disney Interactive Studios | 2011 | Nintendo DS |
| Disney's Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree Animated Storybook | Disney Interactive Studios | 2014 | Windows |
Walt Disney Animation Studios film characters | |
|---|---|
| Introduced in 1930s–1940s | |
| Introduced in 1950s–1960s | |
| Introduced in 1970s–1980s | |
| Introduced in 1990s–2000s | |
| Introduced in 2010s–2020s | |
| Related | |
| Disney Publishing Worldwide |
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|---|---|
| Games and interactive experiences |
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| Other | |
