It’s slightly difficult to know what to make of this, but yesterday The Insitute put out a press release saying they were going to make a live action 3D version of Hansel & Gretel. That may not sound particularly remarkable, but The Institute is Michael Bay’s company that is dedicated to bringing brand marketing and entertainment together.
For example, they won an Emmy Award for ‘Required Reading’, a long-format commercial produced for Hallmark, with all their work based around the motto, ‘where brand science meets great storytelling’. However if that’s true, what the press release fails to mention is how that fits with a Hansel & Gretel movie, as the fairytale characters aren’t exactly a brand and there’s no mention of how product marketing will, or could, fit with the movie, although it does suggest that’s what they’re planning. Unless, of course, the gingerbread house will be full of well known products. Perhaps The Institute is diversifying, but seeing as it was specifically set up for brand marketing purposes, it does suggest there’s more to this story of a live action Hansel & Gretel movie than meets the eye.
Of course, movies like Transformers and G.I. Joe are basically giant brand marketing opportunities, but this would appear to be something slightly different.
There’s no mention of a director or writers, although Joseph C. Pepe, lead creature designer on Avatar, has been hired to come up with design for the creature of German mythology that will feature in the film. The movie is currently scheduled to shoot next spring.