It has been almost a year since writer/director Tommy Wirkola announced that he wouldn’t be returning to direct the sequel to his 2013 hit HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS, but development on the follow-up continues at Paramount Pictures. Although Wirkola handed in a script before vacating the director’s chair, PREDATORS screenwriter Michael Finch has since done a draft, and Tracking-Board hears that the search is on for another writer now that the studio has chosen the director who will replace Wirkola.
According to the site, highly respected commercial and experimental short film director Bruno Aveillan is set to make his feature directorial debut on HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS 2, and he has his own take on the material that will require a fresh rewrite.
The first film’s producers Beau Flynn, Kevin Messick, Will Ferrell, and Adam McKay are all back on board for the sequel. Ashley Brucks, Gabby Canton, and Elizabeth Raposo are overseeing the project for Paramount.
Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton will be reprising the roles of the titular Grimm fairy tale siblings, who Wirkola imagined growing up to become professional witch slayers after their traumatic childhood experience in the gingerbread house.
I didn’t get much out of HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS upon my 2013 viewing of it, but the $226 million it earned at the global box office and the fan base it established shows that I may just be out of the loop on this one. As the sequel heads toward the screen, I’ll probably rewatch the first and see if I enjoy it more this time around.
