You may have noticed a surprising lack of promotion for Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. While the movie was supposed to be part of 2012's Jeremy Renner action trilogy (along with The Avengers and The Bourne Legacy), the only thing we've actually seen from the film was a still that came out in early December. We have already seen trailers for upcoming titles like The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit, Prometheus, all of which were scheduled to be released after Hansel and Gretel. Now the riddle has been solved: the movie won't be coming out in 2012.
Box Office Mojo has gotten word that Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters has been pushed back almost an entire year, from March 2, 2012 to January 11, 2013. The movie was originally going to up against Dr. Seuss' The Lorax and the Todd Phillips-produced Project X, but currently has no competition at its new date (obviously that will change). As of now we don't know why Paramount Pictures decided to push the movie back, but we may find out over the coming weeks. Other Paramount release date shifts include A Thousand Words, the new Eddie Murphy comedy, which has been moved from March 23 to April 20, and Jeff Who Lives At Home, which has been pushed back two weeks from March 2 to March 16.
This doesn't sound too good for the project. While the cast is great (with Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare, Zoe Bell, and Derek Mears on board), and Tommy Wirkola is an interesting choice as a director (you may know him as the filmmaker behind Dead Snow), January is a notorious dumping ground where studios release films that they don't feel have potential either critically or commercially. With any luck, Paramount just saw the success of The Devil Inside, realized that there is potential in the first month of the year, and is trying to take advantage of it.
