Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters Delayed a Year
Posted 01.10.12 by Ryan
Last month, Paramount Pictures released the first look photo of Gemma Arterton (Clash of the Titans) and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) as the title characters in Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. At the time, despite the movie's lack of even a teaser trailer, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters seemed to be on schedule for its March 2nd release date. A month later, and with only two months to go, it would seem that a trailer had to arrive, but instead, Paramount has decide to push the release of the movie until 2013.
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters will see the Brothers Grimm characters 15 years removed from their initial encounter with a witch. Arterton described the movie as being "very, very dark, and bloodthirsty" with "a lot of cursing" and a "[Quentin] Tarantino feel". Actor Will Ferrell and his Anchorman director Adam McKay produced the movie, with McKay previously calling the movie "one of my favorite projects," adding that "the script is kick ass." Unless one hates McKay, Tarantino or Hansel and Gretel director Tommy Wirkola's 2008 Nazi zombie movie Dead Snow, one has to ask: why the push?
The answer is Renner. While already notching two Academy Award nominations for his work in The Hurt Locker and The Town, Renner's star has only begun to rise. With Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol performing well at the box office, Renner still has two highly-touted projects opening this year: May's The Avengers and August's The Bourne Legacy, both of which could make Renner an even bigger star. Hence, the almost year-long move of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters to January 11, 2013.
"This should really set up the international," a studio executive told Deadline about the move. "As this past weekend shows, January is great play time internationally, and we haven’t done too bad domestically in January, either."
Wirkola co-wrote Hansel and Gretel with screenwriter D.W. Harper. Famke Janssen co-stars as the leader of the witches. We'll see the results next year.