Syfy to Reinvent Classic Fairy Tales for Movie Franchise
Syfy is revising timeless fairy tales as well as pop culture icons as part of its Saturday night television movie franchise.
According to an article on HollywoodReporter.com, “The network is airing five titles that give a contemporary twist on a classic story, from Hansel & Gretel (years after escaping the witch in the haunted forest, Hansel returns seeking revenge) to Little Red Riding Hood (a descendant of Little Red discovers her family secretly hunts werewolves).”
“It's exciting to take a treasured brand and put our own sideways spin on it,” said Thomas Vitale, executive vp programming and original movies at Syfy. “By turning familiar timeless stories inside out, we're creating an entertaining new genre for our popular Saturday night movie franchise.”
The idea was in part encouraged by the network’s directive to find projects with a more wide-ranging appeal. The quest to fulfill this command began last year with the serious step of rebranding the network from Sci Fi to Syfy.
The HollywoodReporter.com article goes on to say, “Syfy's Saturday movies continue to be one of the last bastions of regularly produced made-for-TV movies. Each film is typically an international co-production made with a budget of about $2 million and shot on 35mm film. Syfy works with about 10 indie studios, which also distribute the titles on DVD. Each tends to average about 1.8 million viewers Saturdays during the network's twice-monthly original airings.”
Syfy will start the fairy tale ball rolling on Feb. 27 when it will air Beauty and the Beast.