Syfy Adapting Fairy Tales for Movie-of-the-Week Franchise

"fairy tales"
by Vincent Grey

Before I get to the news I wanted to encourage you to take a look at the full size version of this illustration, which I thought fit the theme of 'sci-fi-ed' fairy tales (click on image for full size). It references many tales and the more you look, the more you see. This is, of course, one example of how fairy tales can represent different things different people - something which I always find very interesting.
Which ones can you identify?

You know by now that there are many fairy tale adaptations in the works in the movie industry this year, some of which we will actually see in 2010 but it seems Cable TV is getting on board too.

Syfy is currently working on a new made-for-TV movie franchise with a Saturday night time slot and it's starting this month.

First up is Beauty & the Beast, airing on February 27th.

Here's the details from The Hollywood Reporter & Dread Central:

Syfy is reinventing fairy tales and pop culture characters as part of its Saturday night TV movie franchise.

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).

Piper
by Avijit/Avi Das

(Please note: There is no mention of The Pied Piper being adapted by Syfy at this time)

"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."

You can find a little more info HERE.

A 'fairy tale movie of the week'? Nice. As a bonus, it looks like there's a good chance these will make it to DVD eventually as well. Very nice.

I knew 2010 was going to be a good year for fairy tales!

Note: The illustration at the head is by German concept artist Vincent Grey. You can see his gallery HERE. The other illustration is by Avi Das. You can see his portfolio HERE. If you're interested in how he came to illustrate The Piper in this manner, you can see his inspiration & thought process HERE.