Article: Hollywood fairy tales take on an edge

Interesting article at Variety: Hollywood fairy tales take on an edge: Stuff of children's dreams now aimed at older auds by Justin Kroll.  Here are some highlights:

First:

Studios are endlessly searching for familiar properties with name recognition and spinoff potential. And fairy tales, with their European origins, are tailor-made to appeal to international auds as well as domestic. Another factor? Special effects and 3D have enabled more sophisticated ways for filmmakers to reimagine the yarns in ways that couldn't have been done 10 or 15 years ago.

And,

Some bizzers are feeling fairy-tale fatigue before the first round of redos even opens. Several lit agents say that the market is saturated with such specs, and agents continue to come to their clients with ideas for fairy tale reinventions.

Tired? Maybe some are but plenty of other Hollywood execs see them as a brand that audiences are still drawn to.

Finally, an interesting plot as well as a judicious reminder that if you want to see more fairy tale films, you have to go see the current fairy tale films:

But finding that right balance that draws auds worldwide is, of course, tricky. There's more to it than just adding violence, fx and sex. One project that can't seem to get tractiontion isan untitled comedy that follows Prince Charming, who, though married to Sleeping Beauty, goes through a midlife crisis after after Snow White and Cinderella come back into his life. It sounds like a fun spin on a stock fairy tale character, but one lit agent says its big problem is that no one can figure out the demographic it's meant to target.

The performance of "Red Riding Hood" will likely help determine how many more fairy tales are greenlit, insiders say.

The article is much lengthier and discusses several films so do click through to read it all.