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Paramount and MGM are moving back the release of Jeremy Renner-Gemma Arterton starrer Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters by almost a year, from March 2, 2012, to January 11, 2013.
The move comes on the heels of the successful opening of Paramount’s micro-budgeted horror pic The Devil Inside and Christmas tentpole Mission: Impossible–Ghost Protocol, which has already earned $458.1 million worldwide. The two films almost guarantee that the studio will have a good fiscal quarter (and Devil Inside–scoring the best opening ever for early January–proves the corridor can be lucrative).
There are two other reasons for the move, according to an insider. The 3D materials for Hansel and Gretel are only now coming in, and Paramount wants time to market the 3D aspect, particularly overseas.
Third, Renner — who stars opposite Tom Cruise in Ghost Protocol — has two other 2012 films, The Avengers, which comes out in early May, and The Bourne Legacy, which hits theaters in early August. The insider said pushing back Hansel and Gretel also allows the movie to benefit from the exposure Renner earns from those two films.
Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Prods. is producing Hansel and Gretel, which picks up the Brothers Grimm fairy tale 15 years after Hansel and Gretel found the gingerbread house. They’re now bounty hunters. Tommy Wirkola is directing.