If you always thought that The Little Mermaid's sixteen-year-old Ariel would benefit from a dark Hollywood reimagining in which she is forced to realize that life isn't all underwater sing-alongs, it's your lucky day. Sony was thinking the same thing and -- in the same vein as Hollywood's dramatic Snow White reboots -- has announced a grim new twist on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale.
Sony has acquired Carolyn Turgeon's novel Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale and tapped Country Strong's Shana Feste to adapt the book for the screen and direct. According to The Hollywood Reporter:
The story gets its point of view shifted and the tone is definitely not Disney. It centers on a princess who, in order to save her ravaged kingdom, sets out on a dangerous journey to marry the prince of her rival kingdom, not knowing that a beautiful mermaid has fallen for the same man and has sacrificed everything to be with him.
But wait! How dark will Sony's The Little Mermaid get? After browsing through Amazon.com's user reviews of Turgeon's novel, Movieline noticed that multiple users reference graphic sex scenes (Serena Witzke says, "Both princesses engage in some sensuality.") and a tongue amputation. As in, someone opens up Ariel's mouth and slits out her tongue. Practically speaking, that is probably the easiest way to rob someone of their beautiful voice but it is a far cry from Disney's 1989 clever plot device -- when Ursula just magically removed Ariel's voice and stored it in a nautilus shell. As you do.
Let us all be warned: depending on how faithful Feste is to her source novel, Sony's Little Mermaid could get gruesome. Until then...