Hot on the heels of eleven new images promoting the film yesterday, Disney has unveiled the first teaser trailer for its upcoming musical fantasy Into the Woods, which weaves together strands from various classic fairytales to tell an ambitious new story. It’s adapted from the Stephen Sondheim musical of the same name (though obviously it has been toned down a little – don’t expect to see any sexual tension between Little Red Riding Hood and the predatory Wolf she encounters), and all signs point to this being one of the ‘event’ movies of this December.
In the new trailer, we see Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) skipping merrily into the woods, repeating the words, “I wish.” That seems to be the theme here, as all the characters aspire to something more. There are very beautiful shots of all the lead characters, including Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), the Baker (James Corden), the Baker’s Wife (Emily Blunt), Cinderella’s Prince (Chris Pine) and the Witch (Meryl Streep). Notably, Johnny Depp’s Wolf stays hidden in shadows, though the amount of work that’s been put into creating even one of his furry arms suggests viewers are in for a visual treat when the character is ultimately revealed.
Unsurprisingly, Disney is treating this as an epic on the scale of Les Misérables, and director Rob Marshall (Chicago) really appears to have brought his A-game in terms of creating a sense of mystery and visual splendor. There’s definitely a darkness to the first trailer that suggests an edgier take on the fairytale characters involved than many of us have seen before, but the rousing score also paints this as one for the whole family to enjoy around Christmas time.
Audiences can journey Into the Woods on December 25th.
Into the Woods is a modern twist on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales in a musical format that follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel-all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch who has put a curse on them.