This will come as quite a blow to anybody who was looking forward to this March’s release of HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS for two reasons…

1) You’re now going to have to wait until January 2013 to find out what happened once the titular fairytale characters got up to once they escaped the clutches of that cannibalistic witch, started rocking leather and wielding rifles…

and

2) It’s probably a load of crap.

Why so? Because whenever a studio makes such a drastic shift in their carefully planned out schedule it’s usually a sign that they’ve bottled it and can’t afford risking those extra marketing dollars trying to convince us to see an inferior product. And when Hollywood itself acknowledges that fact, you know it’s a dud.

Speaking with industry site Deadline, Paramount revealed their official reasoning was that the (close to a) year delay would allow enough time for Jeremy Renner’s star status to rise sufficiently, but we don’t buy that for a second. Sure, there’s his role in THE AVENGERS to come, but is anybody really that arsed about Hawkeye? And the less said about the disaster-waiting-to-happen that is THE BOURNE LEGACY the better.

In all fairness, this was one of the movies we were all looking forward to in 2012. Despite not being huge fans of either lead – Gemma Arterton in particular still has a lot to prove – we were eager to find out what Tommy Wikkola, director of the cult zombie hit DEAD SNOW, could conjure up with such a tantalising, adult-orientated premise.

Oh well, we’ll all just have to make do with the other hundred or so fairytale-themed movies and TV shows heading our way this year. The future looks Grimm indeed.

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