A viral horror movie based on Winnie the Pooh will not be released in Hong Kong or Macau.

Distributors VII Pillars Entertainment said on Facebook that the planned release for Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey on Thursday, March 23, would now not go ahead.

The company apologised to fans of the film, which was released in the UK this month.

In the social media post, a spokesman for VII Pillars Entertainment said: “It is with great regret to announce the scheduled release of Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey in Hong Kong and Macau on March 23 has been cancelled.

“We are sorry for the disappointment and inconvenience.”

The film gained viral notoriety after the original copyright for A.A. Milne’s beloved children’s character lapsed.

Winnie The Pooh is loosely based on Sussex’s Ashdown Forest, serving as the basis for Hundred Acre Woods.

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While the film has become a viral sensation, the slasher has not been as well received by critics.

The Guardian described the film as a “dashed-off operation with little to recommend it as cinema” while film critic Mark Kermode slammed it as “depressingly poor”.

The film sees the characters from the classic children’s book turn feral and unhinged after Christopher Robin abandons his forest friends when he goes to college to become a doctor.

However, when Christopher returns with his new wife, Pooh and Piglet go on a murderous rampage.

A trailer for the movie features scenes where Piglet hits someone in the head with a mallet, Pooh kidnaps a woman, while the main characters try to escape the pair’s clutches.

The low-budget production was filmed over 10 days in Ashdown Forest, as the film was named one of the most anticipated films of 2023.

A sequel is understood to already be in development, with its budget set to be five times larger. It is due to be released in February 2024.