Paramount Secretly Test Screening PG-13 & R-Rated Versions of HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is Paramount Pictures' upcoming dark take on the classic folktale. The story picks up where the old fairy tale left off: Years after the traumatic childhood incident with the witch's gingerbread house in the woods, the two siblings have become bounty hunters who track down witches.

Only one promotional item for the upcoming action-fantasy film has been released, a still featuring it's two stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton. Originally scheduled to hit theaters on March 2nd, 2012, it has since been delayed until January 2013; supposedly for 3D post-conversion.

No other news about the project has been made public, but a recent message board thread is slowly filling up with users who have attended test screenings in California. Not only that, but it appears Paramount is quietly presenting two different cuts of the film -- a hard R-rated version and a sillier PG-13 one. Here are two reactions:

"I can’t say a lot because of agreements with the company, Overall I will say that I really enjoyed this one. It was different, violent, pretty funny- Sort of like Drive Angry 3D or Scott Pilgrim humor, and I thought everyone did well. It kind of felt like they nailed the ancient humor the way ‘Your Highness’ was supposed too but didn’t." - User RickCastle

"The first one was definitely the Rated R version. Good humor, good action, great fight scenes, awesome dynamic between Renner and Arterton. I loved it so much the first time, I made a group of friends go to the second screening the next week. But the next week, they had heavily edited it and turned it into a PG-13 film. If they keep it R, it’s gonna be great. Silly, but actiony and fun. If it’s PG13, it won’t be worth it. Let’s hope it’s an R rating." - User pyromaniac975

There's no word yet which version the studio is planning on using. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is directed by Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow) and stars Jeremy Renner (The Avengers), Gemma Arterton (Prince of Persia) and Famke Janssen (X-Men Trilogy) and Peter Stormare (The Big Lebowski).