Who says that January is the graveyard for movie releases? Apparently enough people went to go see HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS to make it worthwhile for the studio to greenlight a sequel. You wouldn’t think a movie that grossed $54 million in the United States would be considered a success, but look at it from a business standpoint: the movie cost $50 million to make, so it recouped it’s budget in North America Alone. The other $150 million is just gravy. Gone are the days where domestic box office is the be all end all for a movie.
Deadline reports Paramount, MGM and MTV Films will produce the sequel alongside Gary Sanchez Productions. Wait, that means Adam McKay and Will Ferrell produced HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS? Yet another drop in this bizarre bucket. Tommy Wirkola, who wrote and directed the first movie may return alongside stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton. Renner and Arterton both have careers headed up, so I find it hard to believe that they would come back for a sequel unless they were contractually obligated to.
The problem here is not that HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS was a mediocre movie, it was a bad movie. I mean, it was not good at all. I can enjoy some crummy movies for the sheer enjoyment value of them, but HANSEL AND GRETEL was just bad on all levels. I enjoyed Terry Gilliam‘s THE BROTHERS GRIMM a hell of a lot more and that movie is pretty awful, too. This comes down to the almighty dollar and when you triple what you gross overseas, it becomes worthwhile to make. It is a shame when this movie gets such an easy greenlight and the VERONICA MARS movie has to take hard earned dollars away from fans via Kickstarter.