You could have called this one months ago. Paramount's "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" was supposed to be due in theaters on March 2nd, less than two months from now and we'd barely seen a peep from the film, not a trailer, a poster or anything other than this first-look photo that was revealed just a month ago. Never a good sign. In fact, that close to release and nothing substantial seen and you can almost guarantee a release date bump is on the way.
And the writing was on the wall, so much so that Fangoria reported at the end of the year that the action fairy tale, starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton, was being pushed off its March date (though they had reported it would resurface later this year in the fall). Of course our emails to Paramount were not returned so that didn't bode well either (better to stay quiet then say anything at all). Had it come out later this year, it likely would have been in the horror-centric date of October, which wouldn't have been bad for the film directed by Tommy Wirkola (known for the Norwegian Nazis and zombies flick, "Dead Snow"), but alas, that's not to be.
Instead, the film is being dumped into early 2013. January 11th to be exact, which can't exactly be a good augur either.
Produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, we had already worried it might be a clunker and this might confirm our worst suspicions. "It’s very, very dark, and bloodthirsty and there’s a lot of cursing. It’s kind of got a [Quentin] Tarantino feel, really," Arterton told Entertainment Weekly recently. Maybe she meant one of the B-movie shlockers he sometimes lends his name to instead?
We'll admit, we're still curious and not writing it off quite yet, as there's a lot of talent involved with this picture. Then again, that's the worry. With Renner, Arterton, Wirkola and the Gary Sanchez duo all on board, you kind of have to have a real stinker on your hands if you're going to put your best foot forward in the worst month for movie release (the excellent and anomalous "Haywire" notwithstanding). [BoxOfficeMojo]