Featured in Noelle’s recent 25 Movies To Watch In 2012 list, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunter was looking like it could be a fun spin on the classic fairytale characters. However, it seems that we are going to have to wait a bit longer to see Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton, as the grown-up (and apparently big fans of The Matrix) versions of the fabled brother and sister duo, dispatching with evil hags and crone in inventive ways (ovens are so last season, steampunk weaponry is now where it’s at), as Paramount has decided to push back the film from March 2nd 2012 to January 11 2013.
And their reasoning behind the schedule change is completely baffling to me.
According to Deadline, Paramount are holding back the film in the hopes that audiences will be more familiar with leading man Renner by then. Because clearly The Hurt Locker, The City and Mission:Impossible – Ghost Protocol were nothing but very vivid mass hallucinations that the entire movie going public of the world shared after a massive bout of bad mexican food, instead of the star-making, Oscar nominated movies that I’m pretty sure they were.
On top of that, 2012 also seems to be the year for fairy tale based movies, and Hansel and Gretel – having already been completed – would have had the advantage of being one of the first out of the golden story book gates. Now by delaying it by nearly a year, they run the risk of being labelled bandwagon jumpers at best, and at worst, possibly even facing an audience, fickle as we are, that has already grown apathetic with the sub-genre by then.
Last Updated: January 10, 2012
Noelle Adams
January 10, 2012 at 13:51
You nailed my feelings on the delay exactly, Kervyn. It’s more damaging than good… especially since it places the film in the January Dumping Grounds for Rubbish Movies.
Kervyn Cloete
January 10, 2012 at 15:56
I really cannot figure out Paramount’s logic on this one.