The Syfy cable network in America (formerly “The Sci-Fi Channel) is set to expand its repertoire with a new slate of Saturday night original movies based on classic stories.
Starting with the premiere of a new, updated, “gritty” “Beauty and the Beast” (starring Estella Warren “Planet of the Apes”) and Rhett Gilles (“Wraiths of Roanoke”), written by Gavin Scott and directed by David Lister) the network will broadcast a series of films based around fairy stories and popular legends. Syfy’s Executive Vice President of Programming and Original Movies, Thomas Vitale, says that “By turning familiar timeless stories inside out – like retelling Little Red Riding Hood as a werewolf story or envisioning a dark version of “Shrek” – we’re creating an entertaining new genre for our popular Saturday night movie franchise, which has become the television destination for fans of action packed, sci-fi, horror and fantasy films.”
Films in preliminary development for the new format include “Red” (about a female descendant of the original Little Red Riding Hood, whose family is in the business of hunting werewolves), “Hansel” (a kind of sequel to “Hansel and Gretel” where Hansel returns to the witch of the original story twenty years later only to find his supposedly dead sister working as her protégé), “Aladdin” (with an evil genie causing chaos), “Black Forest” (a group of tourists become trapped in a supernatural forest) and a new version of the “8th Voyage of Sinbad”.
The new film series is set to begin airing on Saturday February 27 at 9 pm.
