What's Happened To "Hoodwinked Too!"?

If you didn't see Hoodwinked when it came to theaters in 2005, do yourself a favor and have a little movie night. Despite the cheap look (especially now we've gotten used to the Pixar films) the story is wonderful, funny and surprisingly tight and entertaining. It did far better at the box office than anyone expected, especially once word-of-mouth got around that this was worth a looksee. I even know people who have added it to their favorite kids movies list who don't normally go for fairy tales. The news that a sequel was in the works was good news but there's been a hitch...
You may not have noticed, unless you were eagerly anticipating the release of this movie in mid-January, but not only has Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs Evil not hit theaters yet, it's quietly disappeared from release schedules in theaters. In fact it seems that even the creator himself, Cory Edwards, has no idea when it will now be coming out (according to his personal blog).


BUT that hasn't stopped Burger King from releasing the Hoodwinked Too toys on the original schedule. I was alerted to the toys via a TV ad but a visit to the website didn't have nay information. I took the plunge and walked into a Burger King last week (first time ever!) and sure enough, there were the toys on display and we got one in the kid's meal.Turns out it was the best one (the others are rather 'plas-tacky' - see images in this post) so our timing was excellent and I highly recommend grabbing one while they're out. It's a little plastic gingerbread house that you open and inside is a double-sided soft toy of Hansel and Gretel. Double-sided play toys! (My just-3 yr old loves it by the way). As I haven't been able to find any photos of the product online, I've taken & uploaded photos of our prize so you can look out for it.

In the meantime, with the movie being delayed till who-knows-when, those toys aren't likely to be at BK's very long.
If I hear an update on the movie's release I'll be sure to let you know. Whatever the holdup is (speculation is it's the parent company & money, rather than anything to do with the movie's production, so even if it doesn't come to theaters - which would be a real shame) it should be available on DVD sometime in the future.

Sources: Cartoon Brew & Cory's Curiosities

Fairy Tales Going To 82nd Oscars!

The Oscar nominations have been announced and you'll be glad to hear... *drum roll*
.. fairy tales are going to the Oscars!

So here are the movies that are fairy tale or fairy tale/myth based and which category they're nominated for:

Best Animated Feature Film:

Coraline
(I know it's not a fairy tale exactly but it has a lot of fairy tale tropes and is often likened to Hansel & Gretel)

The Princess and the Frog

The Secret of Kells
(myth based and making much use of European/Celtic myths/tales - see HERE for interesting article written today about the film)

Also of interest is The Fantastic Mr. Fox - based on the Roald Dahl book, it has a definite Beatrix Potter feel to it.

Art Direction:

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
(see The Fairy Tale Cupboard's review for reasons why you should be aware of this film as a fairy tale enthusiast)

Costume Design:

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Music (Original Song):

The Princess and the Frog - twice

Short Film (Animated):

Granny O' Grimm's Sleeping Beauty

The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
(not officially a fairy tale adaptation but if you watch it - or an available excerpt, you'll see why I include it here)

You may also want to note that Up in the Air, nominated for Best Picture, gives The Velveteen Rabbit a little cameo too. Just a lovely extra for fairy tale people.

Congratulations to our friends at Brown Bag Films! Can't wait to see what Granny will be wearing. ;)

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.

Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: End Notes & Recap

Sleeping Beauty Mucha Style
by freaksmg

I hope you've enjoyed the giant catch-up on news.

If you're just joining us, I've done a special set of posts today:

A Fairy Tale News 'New Year's Stories' Bumper Edition!

Once again, here are the 'newspaper sections' for you to browse through (the first one is the earliest post in the day, of course) - now with extra 'linkage'!:

INTRO & CONTENTS
General (& latest) fairy tale news headlines (that I haven't seen posted elsewhere)
Blog posts and/or articles discussing/using fairy tales
Friends and other fairy tale people online
Fairy tales in performance arts
Fairy tale artists & illustrators (past & present)
Fairy tale journals/magazines/online 'zines
Fairy tale films & movies
Fairy tale influenced books (and reviews)
Newly discovered online fairy tale retellings
Fairy tale fashion news
Home & garden fairy tale style
Fairy tale sports
Fun fairy tale finds
Fairy tale funnies
Fairy tale weather & the natural world
Fairy tale music/audio
Food and dining fairy tale news
Classifieds/ads for fairy tale people
Careers - fairy tale knowledge required!
From the archives: fairy tale articles to read again (or for the first time)
End notes & recap

Please do let me know any comments you have here or on the posts. I'll even publish 'Letters to the Editor & Fairy Tale News Hound' if you email fairytalenews AT gmail DOT com!
Beauty and the Beast
by wdkimmy

I'll be back to daily blogging as soon as my commitments allow, so keep checking back for more news. In the meantime, happy reading and happy new year.

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UPDATE - 2PM:

I've just linked each content title to it's respective post to make navigation a little easier.

Also, as I was posting this morning, Cabinet Des Fées went live with their 9th Issue. More fairy tale reading - yay! More details will be added to the Fairy Tale Journals/Online 'zines post. In the meantime, the link is HERE.

Enjoy! :)

Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: From the archives: Articles to read again (or for the first time)

• Fear of fairy tales - The glossy sanitized new versions of fairy tales leave out what matters: the scary parts (Article particularly using Rapunzel in the discussion of the importance of unsanitized of fairy tales and the problem with the prevalence of Princesses)

• The Trouble Clef: Hans Andersen and His Alter Ego - Bringing HCA's Little Mermaid to the stage. Lera Auerbach talks about being commissioned by the Royal Danish Ballet to write a full length ballet based on the story. He (?) talks about Andersen's fairy tales in general, looks closely at the story of The Little Mermaid and talks about how amazingly adaptable HCA's works are for bringing to the stage and screen. Very interesting/thoughtful article.

• The fairy tales and fairy tale artists that influenced Tolkien - Tolkien and the New Art. Gives examples, excerpts and shows illustrations. Very interesting!

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Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: Careers - fairy tale knowledge required!

• Father Frost & Snegurochka training, skills required, pay possibilities and job varieties/options - very interesting article about a very real job option for fairy tale people in Russia, even in lean economic times.

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Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: Classifieds/ads for fairy tale people

• Heidi at the SurLaLune blog is looking for Graduate Programs information for fairy tale and folklore studies. Details at the post.

• Enchanted Conversation is open for submissions for the next issue - topic is Beauty & the Beast. Deadline is February 15th, 2010. Paid market for accepted pieces - fiction, non-fiction, poetry and artwork! Submissions info at the link.

• Check out the call from Cinderella's Closet (in the Fashion section) for gently used prom dresses.

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Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: Food and dining

• Young Chef's Academy will be hosting a Princess & the Frog themed event (& themed cuisine course too) on January 23rd in Warren County, Cincinnati, USA.

• What to feed a princess and a castle full of people after a 100 year nap - Cecelia Myers has put together a great first banquet for Sleeping Beauty's waking castle, complete with recipes so you can indulge and feast in your own castle. A Royal Awakening comes with stories and recipes to delight your mind and body. This is one of the awesome new offerings from new blogazine Enchanted Conversation.

• "Human, It's What's For Dinner", "Yum: Cannibalism", "I'll Take Cannibals for $200, Alex","Garden of Eden and Fairy Tales" - all student guest posts (links take you to each article separately) at Diamonds and Toads on the darker side of eating in fairy tales. Very interesting range of writing and ideas! (My apologies if I missed a post.) Please note: there are many other excellent guest student posts worth reading too - take some time to browse and go back a few pages to see the range of topics.

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Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: Music & Audio

• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - original soundtrack by Mychael & Jeff Danna - CD review . Excerpt: "...they’ve wrapped it into a seemingly traditional fairytale score sound of tinkerbells, lilting violins, soaring symphonies and Eastern European instruments. Except musically here it’s a sexy, LSD-influenced Grimm’s fable, preying on adult precepts of what “fairy tale” music is supposed to sound like..."

• Asian Folk and Fairy Tales Told by Christine Price (1973 LP) (Album cover pics + download link for the audio: three stories from the album - 1. The Valiant Chattee Maker 2. The Boy Who Drew Cats 3. The Great Stone Fire Eater)

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Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: Weather & the natural world

• Act now to save our birds Birds have always been endowed with symbolic portent – from Chekhov to Hitchcock to Twitter. We ignore their decline at our peril. There are glimmers of hope, but only if we act now (Article by Margaret Atwood on the importance of birds from myth, to history to today, their decline and what we can do. She originally wrote the essay On Souls As Birds' from Mirror, Mirror On the Wall, which this article echoes. Again, via The Fairy Tale Cupboard)

• Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (Ohio, USA) is having a "Fairytales & Frogs" themed event on February 15th, 2010 - kids under 12 in costume have free entry to the Zoo and Rainforest that day. "Not only will guests learn about the importance of frogs, but they’ll also celebrate the special role these amphibians have played in fairytales and legends throughout history. " (I wish I could go to this!) Additional info: "Everyone can get nose-to-nose with frogs during Get-Close Encounters and decipher myth from reality by talking with the Zoo’s frog keepers. Other activities include a frog craft, storytelling and an interactive life-size “Frogger” game that teaches the importance of frogs in our ecosystem and addresses the perils that frogs face in the wild due to pollution, climate change and habitat loss."

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