When Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was delayed from last year to this spring, few people gave it much chance of becoming a hit, but it’s proven its critics wrong, taking more than $200 million worldwide on a budget of $50 million.
As a result, THR reports that Paramount Pictures and MGM have confirmed that a sequel is in the works, as the $200 million mark was the milestone they’d set to decide to move forward with a follow-up.
In the first film, Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star as the title characters, who 15 years after their nasty experience at the gingerbread house, work as witch hunters. It’s not known at the moment whether the two stars will return, nor whether writer/director Tommy Wirkola will be back at the helm, although its quite likely all three will be up for more fairytale madness.
Despite some truly atrocious reviews, audiences’ love of John McLane won out over the weekend, with the movie topping the US box office with $25 million from Friday to Sunday and $33 million since it was released last Thursday.
The Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman grossout comedy Identity Thief may have been faced with some vitriolic reviews, but US audiences obviously didn’t care as the film significantly outperformed expectations, taking $36.5 million in its first three days in cinemas. It’s one of the best starts ever for an R-rated comedy, suggesting the film should have strong legs over the coming weeks.
Nobody seemed sure quite how well Warm Bodies would do at the US box office, but it turns out audiences were up for some zombie fun over the Superbowl weekend, as the Nicholas Hoult starring movie took $20 million in its first weekend to top the chart. It’s considered a pretty good opening for a relatively cheap movie that could easily have been ignored.
