Director Nicolas Roeg's 1990 adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel THE WITCHES (you can pick up a copy of the book HERE and watch the movie HERE) was only rated PG, but the movie still managed to disturb the hell out of the kids who watched it. Now Robert Zemeckis and Guillermo del Toro have teamed up to bring a new version of THE WITCHES to the screen, and their film has also managed to secure a PG rating.
The reasoning the MPAA gave for the new WITCHES' PG rating was "scary images/moments, language, and thematic elements."
Directed by Zemeckis from a screenplay he wrote with Kenya Barris and del Toro, THE WITCHES centers on
a little boy who stumbles across a conference of witches while staying with his grandmother at a hotel and gets transformed into a mouse by the Grand High Witch.
The film stars Jahzir Kadeem Bruno, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, and Chris Rock, with Anne Hathaway as The Grand High Witch.
This version of the story moves the setting from 1980s Norway and England to 1960s Alabama.
Zemeckis and Jack Rapke produced THE WITCHES through their company ImageMovers, along with del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron, and Luke Kelly.
I was one of the little kids who was troubled by what I saw of the 1990 THE WITCHES, so I'm looking forward to seeing what this new film does with the concept.