Winnie the Pooh (2011 film)

Winnie the Pooh is a 2011 American animated musical comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 51st animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Inspired by A. A. Milne's stories of the same name, the film is part of Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise, the fifth theatrical Winnie the Pooh film released, and Walt Disney Animation Studios' second adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh stories. Jim Cummings reprises his vocal roles as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, while series newcomers Travis Oates, Tom Kenny, Craig Ferguson, Bud Luckey, and Kristen Anderson-Lopez provide the voices of Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Eeyore, and Kanga, respectively. In the film, the aforementioned residents of the Hundred Acre Wood embark on a quest to save Christopher Robin from an imaginary culprit while Pooh deals with a hunger for honey. The film is directed by Stephen Anderson and Don Hall, written by A. A. Milne and Burny Mattinson, produced by Peter Del Vecho, Clark Spencer, John Lasseter, and Craig Sost, and narrated by John Cleese.

Winnie-the-Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne also included a poem about the bear in the children's verse book When We Were Very Young (1924) and many more in Now We Are Six (1927). All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard.

The Pooh stories have been translated into many languages, including Alexander Lenard's Latin translation, Winnie ille Pu, which was first published in 1958, and, in 1960, became the only Latin book ever to have been featured on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Hyphens in the character's name were dropped by Disney when the company adapted the Pooh stories into a series of features that became one of its most successful franchises. In popular film adaptations, Pooh Bear has been voiced by actors Sterling Holloway, Hal Smith, and Jim Cummings in English and Yevgeny Leonov in Russian.

Winnie-the-Pooh (disambiguation)

Winnie-the-Pooh is the central character in books by A. A. Milne.

Winnie-the-Pooh or Pooh Bear may also refer to:

Winnie the Pooh (franchise)

Winnie the Pooh is a character based on A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories. The Disney media franchise commenced in 1966 with the theatrical release of the short Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.

Overview

In the midst of a 2003 battle where Disney stood to lose commercial rights to Winnie the Pooh, The Daily Telegraph noted "Losing control of the Winnie the Pooh franchise would be a disaster for Disney. Analysts believe Pooh is worth $3bn-$6bn of Disney's total annual sales of $25bn." According to a 2013 Variety article, Winnie the Pooh is the third best-selling franchise in the world, after Disney's own Disney Princess and Star Wars. The New York Time said "The stakes are high for Disney. Global sales of Pooh merchandise — books, plush toys, T-shirts, potty chairs — have fallen 12% over the last five years, but still account for a staggering $5.5 billion", adding "Pooh...remains Disney’s second best-selling character after Mickey Mouse". It noted "Branding experts say aging character franchises are among the most difficult to keep alive because they require continually walking a tightrope. 'With Winnie the Pooh, Disney is going to continue to struggle with the tension of remaining relevant to kids versus maintaining a love-mark brand that parents trust,' said Matt Britton, a founder of Mr. Youth, a New York marketing firm." In a 2014 overview of Disney's top franchises, CNN wrote "Pooh may have been born in the 1920s in A.A. Milne's books. But the bear is still going strong via Disney movies and DVD's. Pooh Bear sells games, stuffed animals, clothing, and even iPhone and iPad apps. Pooh is also a favorite subject in books from Disney Publishing Worldwide, the world's largest publisher of children's books and magazines with more than 700 million products sold each year".