Sweet Trailer…'Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters'

While the Damon/Ledger film The Brothers Grimm didn’t fare well with audiences, these days there’s still a fairly large interest in fairy tales and magic; just ask one J.K. Rowling and the hit ABC show “Once Upon A Time”. Anyway, as many properties are finding success with a “dark” or “edgy” spin on things (thank Nolan for that) this looks to follow suit. With a look that recalls an almost Raimi level of campy horror element director Tommy Wirkola asks us to forget all we know about the two helpless kids following their own bread crumb trail…behold, the first trailer for Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

My they grow up so fast don’t they? Fifteen years after their traumatic gingerbread-house incident, siblings Hansel and Gretel have become a formidable team of bounty hunters who track and kill witches all over the world. Neat concept but it’s tough to know what to make of this. Sometimes a little variation can be smart and fun but you can also go so far from the source material the end product has little if nothing to do with the original story. Sooo what are we gonna get then? From the looks of it, nothing spectacular but hopefully a little more fun than Van Helsing (which I secretly like as a guilty pleasure) and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. 

Directed by Tommy Wirkola and starring Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare and Zoe Bell, Paramount has slated Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters for wide release early next year on January 13th, 2013.