We’ve heard about a lot of beloved fairy tales getting darker more adult-aimed movies made based on them, and we’ve always been very excited by the thought of a bit of comforting nostalgia getting a hint of nightmare added to them as we grow older. Sadly, however, we almost never actually get the darkened new versions of these stories — not how we hoped and expected them to be, anyway — and we’re always left wanting in one way or another.

That said, it’s not going to stop studios from making the promises. Now it’s being reported that a much darker re-telling of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fable, The Little Mermaid, is being developed for Sony Pictures.

The movie will be based on the book Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale by Carolyn Turgeon, which tells the tale of a mermaid who finds herself in a love triangle involving a prince she saved from drowning and a rival princess who seeks the prince in hopes of uniting their long-warring kingdoms. The mermaid, ready and willing to do anything from the prince’s love, sacrifices everything, including her voice and her own well-being.

The currently untitled movie adaptation is being developed with The Greatest and Country Strong writer/director Shana Feste attached to once again handle both the writing and directing duties.

It’s also become rather habitual of movie studios to develop competing titles based on the same story. We’ve been hearing plenty about the many Wizard of Oz, Snow White, and Peter Pan projects, to name a few, and The Little Mermaid is likely no different. In July of last year we heard of another Mermaid re-telling being developed by Joe Wright, but it’s unclear whether or not that one is still on the way or whether there are other similar projects being set up around Hollywood.

This all sounds interesting enough, but this entire project really hinges on how dark and different they really want to go. Will it be a much more realistic presentation with the two warring kingdoms and the brutalities of battle? Or will it be more along the lines of the recent Red Riding Hood, which did not meet much positive response.

[Source: Heat Vision]