It seems like it's been a long time since we've heard or seen anything from Tommy Wirkola's (Dead Snow) fantasy action film Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. Paramount Pictures has been doing test screenings for audiences recently, and there seemed to be a little confusion on the rating. IMDB users were saying that the studio was testing both a PG-13 version of the film and a R-rated version. Turns out there never was a PG-13 rated version. Collider has confirmed with their sources that the movie will indeed be rated R.
The story takes place 15 years after the Grimm's Fairy Tale siblings' incident at the gingerbread house. The film finds Hansel and Gretel working as bounty hunters, tracking down supernatural beings. Jeremy Renner (The Avengers), Gemma Arterton (Clash of Titans) and Famke Janssen (X-Men) star in the movie.
The test screenings have been generating a good amount of positive buzz. People that have seen it point out the violence, humor, and fun action of the film. In a previous interview with Arterton she made these statements describing the movie as "a mix of Pulp Fiction and fairly tale." She went on to say...
The heart of it is that these kids grow up to be bloodthirsty witch hunters. It’s a bit tongue in cheek, really.
Though it’s comedic, deep down it’s about abused kids becoming kind of hyper-responsible?
But it’s also very, very dark, and bloodthirsty and there’s a lot of cursing. It’s kind of got a [Quentin] Tarantino feel, really.
The last we heard, the studio moved the release date from March of this year to January 11th 2013, and it will be released in 3D. I'm looking forward to seeing how this flick turned out, I love that it got an R-rating, and it just sounds like a ton of fun. Bring on the bloody R-rated fairytale violence!