Regissør Adam McKay (The Other Guys) er produsenten som la sin arm rundt Tommy Wirkola ^[1] i Hollywood, og bidro til at Paramount satte Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters ^[2] i produksjon. Nå varsler McKay at en oppfølger er høyst sannsynlig, og at Wirkola kan få enda friere tøyler.

Det er i et intervju med Movieweb ^[3] at produsenten forteller åpent om sitt inntrykk av Wirkola, og hva han tror blir fremdriften på en oppfølger:

It’s this deranged Norwegian geek, and he has been given the wheel to this giant corporate money making behemoth. That, to me, is the entire fun of Hollywood. The fact that this kid was given this wheel. I’m really excited about the second one. Because he didn’t steer the behemoth off the road on the first one. You are going to get to see even more slack on his leash with the second one. He is really going to get to roam free on this. I’ve already started to hear some of the ideas he is working on, and its pretty insane. This could be one of those instances where the sequel does go further than the first one.

Selv om Wirkolas Hollywood-debut, som hadde kinopremiere tidligere i år, tjente inn $225 millioner på verdensbasis ^[4], mener McKay at studioet nå angrer på at de tillot filmen sin R-rating. Dette kan bety at studioets grådighet vil lede til en «snillere» oppfølger – helt motsatt av hva Wirkola tilsynaltende ønsker å gjøre. Igjen, sitat McKay:

«The funny thing is…I think Paramount regrets it. I think they are worried that they left some money on the table with that one. There is some discussion about how we’re gong to handle that with the second one. We were a little surprised too. I have to be honest about that. It kept going deeper into it, and I kept expecting that moment to come…But to Adam Goodman’s credit over here at Paramount, he never reversed on it. He promised that it could be R, and he stuck with that all the way to the end. Even at the point where there might have been some discussion about, «We should switch it!» Because of that, that is only why Tommy Wirkola is coming back for a second one. Only because the executive stood by the creative in that case.»

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters slippes straks på DVD/Bluray i USA, og her i Norge 26. juni.