First announced in November 2022 as a Peter Pan-based horror film, the film was subsequently revealed to be set in the TCU shared continuity. The cast was announced between January and June 2024, with Banham reprising her role from Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 (2024) as Mary Darling.
Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare was theatrically released in the United States on 13 January 2025, and in the United Kingdom on 24 February. The film received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $320,459 worldwide.
Plot
Fifteen years ago, Peter Pan worked at a fantasy-themed circus known as "Neverland" where he performs as a mime for many children. After a show, Peter attempts to abduct thirteen-year-old James in his house to take him to Neverland. James' mother Roxy tries to stop Peter from taking him, but is murdered after a fight in which she mutilates Peter's face while he abducts her son.
In the present day, Wendy Darling lives in a complex family dynamic with her younger brothers John and Michael, and their mother Mary, who works as a hypnotherapist at the nearby town of Ashdown.[a] As a surprise birthday present, Michael receives a bike, and Wendy gives him a ride to school, promising to pick him up later. However, she gets distracted while talking to her boyfriend, and does not notice when Michael leaves.
Michael rides through the woods and Peter eventually abducts him. The Darling family receives a phone call from Peter, who informs them that Michael has been taken to Neverland. The next day, Peter slaughters a bus full of children while searching for Michael's best friend Joey. Simultaneously, Wendy, Joey, and his sister Lily visit Steven, a past victim whose transgender child, Timmy, was abducted by Peter years ago.
Wendy stays the night with her best friend Lily, but Peter arrives to abduct Joey, killing Lily and her parents in the process. Meanwhile, Michael meets Timmy, now going as "Tinker Bell", who believes everything Peter has told her over the years and is convinced that the children Peter kills are actually going to the fictional Neverland island due to the drug abuse Peter subjected her to.
After following Peter to Neverland, where he is holding Michael hostage, Wendy breaks into it to save him. Peter becomes aware of Wendy's presence when her phone rings as she finds Michael. The siblings are separated when Peter attacks them, with Wendy finding Joey alive in a closed coffin. They find a window through which Joey escapes while Wendy discovers James, now heavily mutilated and chained in the basement with a hook for a hand.
Tinker Bell betrays Peter after Wendy reveals that Steven misses her. Peter brutally kills Tinker Bell and engages in a fight with Wendy, in which he bites off two of her fingers, until Michael appears and bludgeons Peter in the face. James emerges from the basement, hooks a critically injured Peter in the shoulder, and drags him away as revenge for Roxy's death.
One year later, Michael celebrates his birthday with Wendy, John, and Mary. Wendy receives a phone call and hears the same music that was heard in Peter's original call, implying that he is still alive.
In November 2022, a Peter Pan-based live-action horror film, titled Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare, was announced to be in development for ITN Studios and Jagged Edge Productions, with Rhys Frake-Waterfield producing.[5] Frake-Waterfield has stated that the film will depict the character Tinker Bell as a "heavily obese" recovering drug addict.[6] The film was written and directed by Scott Chambers.[7] In February 2023, the film was additionally revealed to be set in the same continuity as Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) and its sequel.[8]
Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare grossed $320,459 in the United States, the Netherlands, and Australia.[3][4]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 48% of 21 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10.[17]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 50 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[18]
Sequel
In January 2025, director Scott Chambers announced plans for a sequel, acknowledging that the film needs to perform well at the box office before the project can be officially green-lit. He also stated that the plot would explore the realization that though the first film depicts Peter Pan exploring Neverland while he is under the influence of drug abuse and the audience is intended to question its reality, the sequel would reveal that the location is indeed a real place.[19]
↑ Ridgley, Charlie (6 January 2025). "Why Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare Is Nothing Like Winnie-the-Pooh Slashers (Even Though They're Connected)". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 6 January 2025. ...there's something really twisted and messed up, that Neverland does exist and there is this otherworldly thing, and he was able to communicate to it. I definitely have a whole sequel in store. I literally have the whole script already. I just need budget to do it, and I need this to do well.
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