With Disney’s unprecedented success with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the concept of creating a cinematic universe has been coveted by many different studios. The early returns on copycats like the Dark Universe and DC Extended Universe have been less than tantalizing, with DC already abandoning plans to continue on with that idea. While the concept of a cinematic universe has mainly been considered with tentpole projects, it looks like Gretel and Hansel could change that.
Sitting down with The Bloody Disgusting’s The Boo Crew podcast, Gretel and Hansel director Osgood Perkins revealed his intentions to creating his own dark fairytale universe. Check out his comments:
“Without saying too much…my idea for it was to create our own fairytale world, our own fairytale universe. “I don’t wanna say Shrek, but you know how Shrek is all the fairy tales, they all coexist, and you’re in that enchanted world? So, the idea is to suggest there isn’t just [this] one [place], there are entities all around and references to other fairy tales.
“People say things, and there are a couple of easter eggs in the movie that reference other older movies and things. The idea is that Gretel could certainly go forth from this movie and get into more trouble.”
In concept, the idea of a dark fairy tale universe with interesting low budget horror projects sounds very enticing, but a lot needs to go right to make it happen. As of writing this post, reviews for Gretel and Hansel have yet to be released, and ProBoxOffice is only projecting an opening around 5 million dollars. If these projects have a low-enough budget, which is possible for horror films, a shared universe could happen. I hope this ideal plays out, as we need more low-budget franchises that take old concepts and completely reinvent them.
What do you think of a dark fairy tale universe? Let us know in the comments!