Paramount Home Entertainment announced this past week that a new 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack edition of writer/director Tommy Wirkola’s 2013 updating of the classic Brothers Grimm fairytale, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, will be heading home on Sept. 14.
This was one of those weird and wonderful surprises. The film wrapped up production in June of 2011 and then went into the post-production phase, which would normally yield a theatrical release date either during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday period of that year, or perhaps in the spring of 2012.
Paramount subsequently announced in the trades that this Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace, Clash of the Titans, etc.) fantasy/horror tale — with Hansel and Gretel now as adult witch-hunters for hire — would open theatrically in March of 2012. It didn’t happen, which is usually not a good sign.
There was apparently a decision made to further delay the film’s release so that Renner’s other big-budget flicks, director Joss Whedon’s The Avengers (May of 2012) and writer/director Tony Gilroy’s The Bourne Legacy (August of 2012) could build up momentum for Wirkola’s film.
The strategy worked like a charm as Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters generated worldwide box office receipts five times its production costs.
It is unclear at press time if the companion Blu-ray disc contains the Unrated cut version of the film, however bonus features are likely to include the previously release featurettes titled “Reinventing Hansel & Gretel,” “The Witching Hour” and “Meet Edward the Troll.”
In other release news from Paramount Home Entertainment this past week, seven additional films from the Miramax library have been added to the July 27 Blu-ray release calendar (all include Digital Copy). These are: My Left Foot, 54: The Director’s Cut, Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Venom and The Great Raid: Unrated Director’s Cut.
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