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.