Remakes are big business in Hollywood, even if not all of them are good. We've seen everything be remade from Total Recall, which feels like it just came out, to yet another version of A Star Is Born.
Generally audiences don't seem to mind remakes, as long as studios stay away from beloved classics. When Disney tried to recreate some magic with Oz The Great And Powerful it was largely seen as a miss. It made its money back (and then some) but was far from cherished like the original Wizard of Oz is.
So it will be interesting to see what happens when Warner Bros tries to cast a spell on audiences with their remake of the iconic book The Witches by Roald Dahl.
The instant classic was turned into a movie starring Angelica Huston as the "Grand High Witch" and she didn't disappoint. A generation of children was terrified and titillated by her performance. When it was announced that a remake would begin production everyone's question was "who will play the Grand High Witch" and it appears we have our answer.
Anne Hathaway has been cast to take on the important role and you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't agree with the decision.
Hathaway, who won an Oscar for her role in Les Miserables, will be a villain when we're used to seeing her as a hero. She has the acting chops, and even resembles a young Angelica Houston, so we're excited to see what she can do.
The movie will be directed by Robert Zemeckis, who did huge hits likst Castaway, and also has experience with children's classics (he did The Polar Express.)
Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo Del Toro are also slated to produce the movie. They're known more for their dramas, but Del Toro is a particularly interesting addition. The original Witches was the last film Jim Henson worked on before succumbing to cancer. His "creature shop" created the unforgettable witch makeup that we found so scary, so the special effects will be a big part of the new movie. Del Toro has lots of experience with that considering he directed Pan's Labrynth and won an Oscar for The Shape Of Water.
There will be one other interesting difference between the original movie and the remake. The movie had a much different ending from the book, something author Roald Dahl hated, but Zemeckis has said he'll follow the book more closely.