http://geektyrant.com/storage/post-i...maidtwist.jpeg

Sony Pictures is going to take Hans Christian Andersens’ classic fairy tale The Little Mermaid and take it in a completely different direction than what Disney did. The film will be an adaptation of Carolyn Turgeon book Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale, story 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.

Country Strong filmmaker Shana Feste has been hired to write and direct the project, Tobey Maguire and Jenno Topping producing.

Not sure what to expect from this, but fairy tale reboots are a big thing in Hollywood right now. Hanna director Joe Wright is also looking at making a Little Mermaid film.

Here's the description from the book:

When Lenia, a young mermaid princess, rescues a man from a shipwreck and carries him to shore, her selfless act is witnessed by Princess Margrethe, who is staying in a convent nearby for protection from the war her father is fighting against another kingdom. The shipwrecked young man’s name is Christopher, and in the weeks that he’s nursed back to health at the convent, he and Margrethe fall in love—but it’s not until after he leaves that Margrethe discovers he’s the prince from the kingdom her family is at war with.

Meanwhile, in the sea Lenia is suffering; she fell in love with Christopher in the moments she carried him to shore, so she makes a deal with the sea witch: in exchange for her voice and tongue she receives a potion that changes her into human form. Margrethe comes up with a plan of her own: she’ll be offered in marriage to Christopher, thus uniting the kingdoms and putting an end to the years of conflict between the two lands. But when Margrethe arrives, ready to win and wed her prince, she finds him enraptured with a beautiful woman who looks very familiar. Margrethe is sure she’s seen her before…
http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/5/23...e-mermaid.html
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037480