In one of the more unexpected bits of news in recent memory, Paramount and MGM have decided to begin developing a sequel to the recent action horror-fantasy, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

The movie only made $54 million here in the States—not at all a good number for a movie like it. But what it had in its favor was that its production budget was only around $50 million. And one should never underestimate the power of overseas box office numbers; in foreign markets Hansel & Gretel pulled in $150 million, which is why a sequel is now beginning to grow.

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Hello There! This is Adam Frazier and you are listening to Skull-Face Island, the official movie podcast of Geeks of Doom! As always I’m joined by Cornelius Evazan to my Walrus Man, David Allen… and the Outside Hitter for our Island Volleyball Squad, producer Tim Grant.

Today on the Show: We’ll discuss Tommy Wirkola’s‘s latest film, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, and boot-up the Geek-O-Matic TeleFax for all the latest news on Marvel’s big plans for The Hulk and The Avengers in phases 2 and 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

We’ll also wrap up our four-part series of “BEST OF THE YEAR” lists with special guest Sean O’Connell of Fandango, Movies.Com, CinemaBlend, and The Washington Post. On this installment we’ll cover the top five best films of 2012. You’ll definitely want to tune in for the insanity that ensues. I’m pretty sure Richard Parker shows up – and not Peter Parker’s father…

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
Directed by Tommy Wirkola
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare
Paramount Pictures
Rated R | 88 Minutes
Release Date: January 25, 2013

Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola first gained the attention of Hollywood with his 2007 film, Kill Buljo, a parody of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill.

Since then, Wirkola has released a pair of low-budget horror comedies with 2009’s Dead Snow, a film about Nazi Zombies in the mountains of Norway, and 2010’s Kurt Josef Wagle And The Legend of the Fjord Witch, a send-up of first-person found-footage movies that combines elements of The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, and [●REC].

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is Wirkola’s first big-budget American film, an R-rated fantasy comedy produced by Adam McKay and Will Ferrell. The film picks up with Hansel (Jeremy Renner, The Avengers) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) years after that traumatic incident involving a witch, some bread crumbs, and a gingerbread house.

Ridley Scott returned to tentpole sci-fi filmmaking this summer with Prometheus and it turned out to be one of the most divisive genre films released in recent years. Nevertheless, it was a global blockbuster and was warmly embraced by critics and audiences looking for something more intellectually stimulating in their summer movie escapes. Months before Prometheus opened in theaters, Scott had also signed on to make another Blade Runner movie. Plus, he has the Cormac McCarthy original script The Counselor next up on his dance card. After all that is said and done, it looks like the Oscar-winning director will be returning to a pet project he has been pursuing for the past quarter-century.

Since the late 1980s, Scott has sought to make a feature film adaptation of The Forever War, a 1974 sci-fi war novel written by Joe Haldeman, a former Army combat engineer who had served in the Vietnam War and used those experiences as the inspiration for his book. The Forever War told the story of a soldier who goes off to fight in an intergalactic war for a few months and returns to Earth only to find that 700 years have passed and the world is much different than when he left it. In 2008, Scott finally secured the rights to the book and announced he would be making the movie for 20th Century Fox, but those plans were sidelined in favor of Robin Hood and eventually Prometheus.

These past few years we’ve been seeing an interesting twist on childhood fairytales. Red Riding Hood and Snow White and the Huntsman are perhaps the most interesting of the latest Hollywood trend, but neither match the overall silliness and absurdity that is Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.

The first trailer had poor CGI, Gatling guns in medieval times, and cheesy lines. This new red-band trailer seems to be focused on the humor and the plot of the film – if you can really call it a plot.

Check out the latest NSFW trailer and the poster for the film below.