Film universes, can’t escape them. Rather like the actual universe. There’s an ingenious analogy to kick things off with.
Tomorrow sees the release of a new dark fantasy film titled Gretel & Hansel (see what they did there?), a fresh adaptation of the old German folktale yadda yadda yadda. As part of the pre-release promotional circuit, director Oz Perkins has made a guest appearance on The Boo Crew podcast (courtesy of Bloody Disgusting), where he divulged his grand plan for a dark fantasy film universe, saying:
“Without saying too much…my idea for it was to create our own fairytale world, our own fairytale universe. The idea is that Gretel could certainly go forth from this movie and get into more trouble.”
I’m not exactly a sucker for the 2010s trend of turning every film that moves into a multiversal monster. They stink of corporate focus-grouping and hamper them as projects in their own right. Admittedly, though, that’s unlikely to be the kind of vision Perkins has for his fledgling fantasy vehicle.
Gretel & Hansel is a low-budget picture whose first port-of-call will be to recoup costs. If it can do that (and industry projections say it will), maybe Perkins’ dream of an expanded Brothers Grimm franchise will come true. One could then add it to the ever-growing list of cinema’s ongoing experiment in multi-franchising. There’s the Marvel Cinematic Universe (that was obvious), the DC Extended Universe, J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, the MonsterVerse (gimmicky) and let us also spare a thought for the film universe that didn’t make it, the Dark Universe (Lord, have mercy on its soul).
Which pile will Gretel & Hansel end up in? Will there be a sequel? Will it recoup its costs? Will it spawn a Gretelverse? Will this list of questions ever end? Will they begin with an interrogative word other than “will,”? Will we ever get the answer to any of them? To that last point of order, yes. To the others? I haven’t the foggiest idea. Sorry.
