First, there was Pride & Prejudice and Zombies, Sense & Sensibility and Sea Monsters followed. Then, Jane Austen was left alone and history's greatest president was next with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter; now, we give you HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS! Why even write a book this time? Let's just do a campy splat-stick (term patented by Sam Raimi) semi-sequel to a beloved children's classic!

Sounds like a hoot, actually. I'm in. And so is DEAD SNOW director Tommy Wirkola. And it appears Jeremy Renner (THE HURT LOCKER, THE AVENGERS) is up for the hunt, too. Renner had this to say about the flick in an interview at the Venice Film Festival:

“I liked DEAD SNOW , and I like seeing that Scandinavian directors have a combination of horror and humor. I think HANSEL AND GRETEL will be awesome. I play him and Noomi Rapace plays Gretel. They have become adults, are damned and going on witch hunting.” (The interview has been translated into English, explaining some of the wording).

Producer Adam McKay chimed in early on about the tone of HANSEL & GRETEL WITCH HUNTERS, and you can feel his excitement and see the potential for a really fun series:

"The idea is, they’ve grown up and they hunt witches. It’s a hybrid sort of old-timey feeling, yet there’s pump-action shotguns. Modern technology but in an old style. We heard it and we were just like, ‘That’s a freakin’ franchise! You could make three of those!’"

How long will this trend last? Luckily for Hollywood, most people don't read, so the general populous might not even be aware of this new horror schtick in contemporary fiction, let alone realize that the gimmick is starting to overstay its welcome.

Source Dagsavisen, via Twitch and /Film