document_title: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

question_text: where was hansel and gretel witch hunters filmed

text: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

text: Plot[edit]

text: Abandoned by their father deep in a forest, young Hansel and Gretel enter a gingerbread house and are captured by a cannibalistic witch. The witch forces Hansel to continuously eat candy to fatten him up, and enslaves Gretel by ordering her to prepare the oven. The siblings outsmart her and incinerate her in the fire of the oven. In the fifteen years that follow, Hansel and Gretel become famed witch hunters, slaying hundreds of witches. The pair find that they are somehow immune to spells and curses, but the incident in the gingerbread house has left Hansel diabetic. He needs a shot of insulin every few hours or he will get sick and die.[N 1]

text: Now adult, witch hunters Hansel and Gretel arrive in the town of Augsburg and immediately prevent Sheriff Berringer from executing a beautiful young woman named Mina for witchcraft. Mayor Englemann tells the crowd that he has hired the siblings to rescue several children presumed abducted by witches. Berringer hires trackers for the same mission in the hopes of disgracing the mayor and cementing his power. All but one of the sheriff's party are killed that night by the powerful grand witch Muriel, who sends one man back to the town tavern as a warning to the locals. Hansel and Gretel, along with the Mayor's deputy Jackson, capture the horned witch and interrogate her. They discover that the witches are preparing for the coming Blood Moon, where they plan to sacrifice twelve children to gain immunity to fire, their greatest weakness.

text: Muriel, accompanied by her witches and a troll named Edward, attacks the town and abducts the final child. Muriel kills Jackson and launches Gretel out a window, rendering her unconscious. Gretel is rescued by Ben, a local teenager who is a fan of theirs and plans to be a witch hunter himself. Hansel grabs onto a fleeing witch by her broomstick, but falls and is lost in the forest.

text: The next morning, Mina finds Hansel hanging from a tree. She takes him to a nearby spring where she heals his wounds and has sex with him. Gretel searches for Hansel in the forest, but is attacked by Berringer and his posse. The men capture and beat Gretel before being stopped by Edward who kills Berringer and his men. Edward tends to Gretel's wounds and tells her that he helped her because trolls serve witches. Hansel and Gretel reunite at an abandoned cabin which they discover is both a witch's lair and their childhood home. Muriel appears in front of them, telling them the truth of their past. She reveals that Hansel and Gretel's mother was a grand white witch named Adrianna who married a farmer, explaining the siblings' immunity to black magic. On the night of the last Blood Moon, Muriel planned to use the heart of the white witch to complete her potion. She found Adrianna too powerful and decided to use Gretel's heart instead. To get rid of Adrianna, Muriel revealed to the townspeople that Adrianna was a witch. The resulting angry mob burned her alive and hanged Hansel and Gretel's father. Following this revelation, the siblings battle Muriel before she stabs Hansel and abducts Gretel for the ceremony.

text: Hansel wakes up with Mina, who reveals herself to be a white witch. She heals his wounds again and uses a grimoire to bless Hansel's arsenal of weapons. Hansel, Mina, and Ben head out to disrupt the Blood Moon Sabbath. Mina begins slaughtering dark witches with a Gatling gun, while Hansel squares off against Muriel's witches and frees the children. Edward defies Muriel's orders and releases Gretel before Muriel throws him off the cliff. Muriel flees on a broomstick, but Ben manages to shoot her and forces her to crash. Hansel goes after Muriel while Gretel stops to revive Edward. Hansel, Ben, and Mina follow Muriel's trail to the original gingerbread house. Muriel wounds Ben and kills Mina before Hansel shoots her several times, knocking her into the house. Gretel arrives and the pair engage Muriel in a brutal fight that ends with Gretel decapitating her with a shovel. They burn Muriel's body on a pyre and collect their reward for rescuing the children. They head out on their next witch hunt accompanied by Ben and Edward.

text: During the credits, Hansel and Gretel are able to slay a Desert Witch.

text: Extended cut[edit]

text: Aside from additional profanity, gore, and sexual content, and a few extra lines, the extended version features a few extra scenes.[6] In one scene, Berringer blames the Mayor for the witches' attack and murders him in public. The scene where Berringer and his goons assault Gretel is also extended; it occurs in between the scene where Mina heals Hansel and has sex with him, and shows that the men plan to rape Gretel right before Edward kills them.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Jeremy Renner as Hansel, the brother of Gretel and a witch hunter who takes insulin following an incident at a witch's gingerbread house.
Cedric Eich as young Hansel
Gemma Arterton as Gretel, the sister of Hansel and a witch hunter.
Alea Sophia Boudodimos as young Gretel
Famke Janssen as Muriel, an evil grand witch who rules over a coven of dark witches. Unlike lesser witches, she has the ability to change her appearance into that of a normal human woman.
Pihla Viitala as Mina, a beautiful white witch who befriends Hansel and Gretel.
Thomas Mann as Benjamin "Ben" Walser, a teenage fan of Hansel and Gretel.
Derek Mears as Edward (in-suit performer), a troll that is in the services of Muriel.
Robin Atkin Downes as Edward (voice)
Peter Stormare as Sheriff Berringer, the power-hungry and brutal sheriff of Augsburg who does not trust Hansel and Gretel.
Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as Horned Witch, a member of Muriel's personal coven with a lot of horns on her head.
Joanna Kulig as Red-Haired Witch, a red-haired member of Muriel's personal coven.
Bjørn Sundquist as Jackson, Mayor Engleman's deputy.
Rainer Bock as Mayor Englemann, the Mayor of Augsburg who hires Hansel and Gretel.
Thomas Scharff as Hansel and Gretel's father, an unnamed farmer.
Kathrin Kühnel as Adrianna, the grand white witch who was Hansel and Gretel's mother.
Zoë Bell as Tall Witch, a forest-dwelling witch who is captured and killed by Hansel and Gretel.
Monique Ganderton as Candy Witch, the old, child-eating witch who lived in the gingerbread house.
Stephanie Corneliussen as Desert Witch (uncredited), a witch with sand-based abilities.

text: Production[edit]

text: Wirkola got the idea to create a film based on the adult lives of Hansel and Gretel in 2007 while at film school in Australia. After being discovered by Gary Sanchez Productions, Wirkola pitched the idea at a meeting with Paramount Pictures and won a contract. Production began in March 2011 at the Babelsberg Studios in Germany and included extensive use of traditional special effects. In addition, Renner and Arterton had a month of training beforehand to prepare for the physical demands of their roles. In terms of the weapons and wardrobe, Wirkola wanted an old-world look with a modern touch, and he was adamant about filming outdoors in European nature rather than in a studio. The project was filmed in Germany and featured an international cast and crew.

text: Development[edit]

text:
Blood and gore and action, all the stuff that I love ... It's definitely an R-rated movie, the first draft has a lot of blood and guts. First and foremost, it's an action movie, I think, with horror elements. And of course some dark humor as well. But the action and horror are the most important feelings I want.[7]
–Tommy Wirkola (writer/director) in 2009

tag: div

text: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is the first English language film and the first big studio production of Norwegian writer and director Wirkola, up to this point best known for his 2009 Nazi zombie-themed, independent horror comedy film Dead Snow. Wirkola said he was contacted by producer Kevin Messick from Gary Sanchez Productions after the screening of Dead Snow at the Sundance Film Festival: "So my first meeting, my first day in LA was with those guys and I pitched Hansel and Gretel and they loved it. And they took me to Paramount two days after and we sold it."[8] In 2013, Wirkola commented, "I'm still surprised that they went for it, because it's a crazy, rock n' roll script. It's full throttle, there's lots of blood and gore and bad language, I often wonder how I got this movie made. It's all across the world now. But people really seem to respond to it, which is what we hoped, that people would enjoy this ride."[9]

text: An announcement of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters sparked a production of several other "Hansel and Gretel"–based films made by different studios, including The Asylum's mockbuster Hansel & Gretel,[10] Syfy's Witchslayer Gretl,[11] and Lionsgate Home Entertainment's Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft.[12] The film was also a part of an overall Hollywood trend of witch-themed films, among them Beautiful Creatures (which also stars Thomas Mann) and Oz the Great and Powerful, set to be released that same season.[13][14] The project was given a budget of $50 million,[15] co-financed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[16]

text: Concept and design[edit]

text:
I loved fairy tales growing up. I used to listen to them on tapes and "Hansel & Gretel" scared the hell out of me and it always stayed in the back of my head. I always wondered what happened to those characters.[17]
–Tommy Wirkola in 2013

text: Wirkola said,

text: I have a strong memory from my childhood of just how dark and gruesome their tale was and I wondered what would have happened to the two of them when they grew up? They had this dark past and this intense hatred of witches. So as I thought about it, it made sense to me that of course they would be fated to become great witch hunters. We wanted it to feel like this could be happening 300 years ago but at the same time, there is a modern spin on all the action, characters and weaponry. It was a fun way to make a classical world feel fresh.[18]

text: Wirkola said that he originally came with that idea in 2007 while studying film and television at Bond University in Australia, when he wanted to make it as just a short film,[5] and that the film school director Simon Hunter advised him: "Tom, don't ever speak of the idea again until you are in front of a Hollywood producer and I guarantee you will sell it."[19]

text: Gary Sanchez Productions' Adam McKay said in 2010, "The idea is, they've grown up and they hunt witches. It's a hybrid sort of old-timey feeling, yet there's pump-action shotguns. Modern technology but in an old style. We heard it and we were just like, 'That's a freakin' franchise! You could make three of those!'"[20] Dante Harper was hired to rewrite the script, aimed for "having a gory-but-funny Shaun of the Dead vibe."[21] McKay said inspirations included Sam Raimi's early horror comedy films like Army of Darkness but also "John Carpenter's movies, which we all love [and] we're all hugely influenced by the first Matrix—obviously a really big one—also the Bourne Supremacy movies and the way Oliver Wood shot those. You kind of throw in all those, mix 'em up in a pot and that's what you get."[22] Wirkola also credited Quentin Tarantino for influencing him "in many ways"[23] and singled out Peter Jackson's Braindead for having been "a game-changer" for him.[9]

text:
It's got kind of like a steampunk vibe mixed with a little bit of a goth edge and hyper-cartoon violence like Kick-Ass and all set in a very specific world ... It's like a Sam Raimi-type horror movie, like Evil Dead II.[24]
–Adam McKay (co-producer) in 2010

text: Messick said they designed "a fairy tale, mythological fantasy world" that feels like it happened long time ago but is not set in any particular time period.[25] Marlene Stewart created the film's costumes, using traditional leather and linen but without an antique look. Its steampunk-like, retro-futuristic weapons were created by the weapon designer Simon Boucherie and Wirkola, who said they wanted Hansel and Gretel's weapons to look as if the characters hand-made them.[18] Wirkola stated he "just wanted this crazy, mashed-up world where you can't pinpoint where it is, or when it is" and the modern elements are there to "add to the fun and tone of the film."[5] He said, "We wanted the movie to feel timeless and for the movie to feel like a fairy tale, but still grounded. It was a lot of fun coming up with the different weapon designs and ways of killing witches. We mixed old and new elements. But no matter how modern some of the weapons are, they all have an old-fashioned feel and look like they could fit into this world."[9]

text: The Stone Circle witches' looks were designed by Twilight Creations (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows).[18]  According to McKay, "the witches are awesome in it. Nasty, mean witches, and we'll get some great actresses for them as well."[24] Wirkola said he wanted to reinvent witches as villains: "I do love Witches of Eastwick. We wanted to try to avoid the classical witch with the long nose stirring the pot. I really wanted them to be ... dangerous, fast – they're stronger than Hansel and Gretel ... It's a good basis for a villain."[8] He recalled that "the most fun was finding their look and sound. For the main witches, we found one animal to represent all of them, like Muriel is a wolf. It just helped us find the witches. In some ways, it feels like they're the spawn of the dark places of nature. It should feel animalistic."[26] Asked if he was worried about "this perception that it might be interpreted as sexist", Wirkola said, "For me, that's a classical villain from hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Yeah, I never worried about that, to be honest."[5] He added, "People forget how truly dark and twisted those stories are. [The original "Hansel & Gretel"] talks about a witch burning alive in an oven, screaming and scratching."[9] Ulrich Zeidler's concept art for some of the witches was released on the Internet.[27]

text: Casting and characters[edit]

text: Jeremy Renner, who played the film's adult Hansel, has stated that his initial attraction came from a one sheet he was given even before seeing the script, showing Hansel and Gretel walking away and a witch burning at a stake in the background, which he found "incredibly interesting"[28] (this scene was included in the finished film). He added, "When I read the script, my first thought was, 'I can't believe this hasn't been done yet.' It's such a great idea with so much potential. That dynamic was definitely a big thing, I loved that what Tommy [Wirkola] wrote left so much room for character."[28] Wirkola said he wanted Renner in the role after seeing him in The Hurt Locker.[29] Wirkola, who described Hansel as the "loose cannon" of the duo,[30] gave him an additional character flaw of diabetes, in addition to the psychological scars that Hansel shares with his sister (in the original idea for the short film, Gretel was also suffering from eating disorder[5]).[31] Renner said it was a great escape for him "as this was a fairytale with no stress like the other action movies I'd done recently. I was having so much fun hanging on a wire like Peter Pan, hanging onto a broom and doing other crazy stuff."[32] He stated, "That was one of the most fun jobs I've ever had because there's something magical about that old world, fantasy thing."[33]

text:
There's a lot of fairy tale stuff, but that fight is really real and bloody and quite brutal. Women are the villains a lot of the time. Not all the time. There are some horrible male villains as well. But I guess Gretel is very feminist. She's quite full on.[13]
–Gemma Arterton (Gretel in the film)

text: The role of adult Gretel, whom Wirkola wanted to be "a really, really strong and fun female character,"[5] was originally planned for Noomi Rapace, who dropped out of consideration for the part prior to early January 2011.[34] Diane Kruger and Eva Green were reported to also be in talks for the role.[35] English actress Gemma Arterton was ultimately cast in the role. She impressed Wirkola with her performance in The Disappearance of Alice Creed,[30] and, after they have met, with her "really filthy sense of humour" as "the humour is essential to this film."[9] Arterton said she was attracted to Wirkola's "strong vision" for the film,[13] calling it "very, very dark, and bloodthirsty and there's a lot of cursing. It's kind of got a Tarantino feel, really." Arterton described her character as "much more in tune with her spiritual side. Hansel is a typical action hero, cheeky, funny, a womanizer. She's much more of a thinker, intense, internal and bit more open-minded than he is." She said that Gretel is "a sexual character but she's not having sex with anybody, which is a change for me because usually in my films I'm sleeping with somebody!"[32] She further explained the characters: "Hansel & Gretel have this unstoppable bond but they're also so different from each other. She's the brains of the operation. He's the brawn. He's the joker and the show-off. She's more the watcher, the researcher, the one who tries to really understand witchcraft."[36] Arterton added, "Jeremy [Renner] and I found within the script moments where we showed the vulnerable side of them. Often in action movies, people are scared to put that in. I think it was important."[37] She said that she "loved every minute" of the production and did not want it to end, also crediting it for helping her overcome her fear of getting hurt.[38]

text: The role of the chief witch Muriel,[39] described by Arterton as "the queen bee of witches",[40] was given to Dutch actress Famke Janssen.[41][42] Janssen too described the film as "Tarantino-esque", with "a lot of blood, gore and exploding witches."[43] Wirkola said he had a crush on Janssen since he saw her in GoldenEye as Xenia Onatopp, "an amazing villain,"[44] and that in his opinion her being not only a good actress but also a beautiful woman who is "huge" and "menacing somehow" made her "a perfect combination" of "sexy and dangerous".[26][45] Janssen said that at first the initial appeal was just money, but she quickly took a liking of the script and of Wirkola personally.[43] She also thought the idea of playing an "evil to the core" witch "was appealing and different", saying, "I hadn't done anything like it ... A character like a witch feels like you would have so much freedom, because there are no restrictions as to what you can do."[13] Later, however, she was constantly being distracted by the special effects work and felt that she "really understood the character" only in one part of the film.[43] She found the time-consuming process of applying such makeup (taking three hours to apply and one hour to remove[46]) "very strange" and also felt restricted and afraid of acting over-the-top in her witch role. In the end, she still had "a lot of fun" playing someone who is completely evil,[47] and felt that it was "so empowering"[48] to have "an inner witch to get in touch with once in a while."[49] Janssen said the film might appeal to women and girls, too: "There's a brother and a sister story. And there's a romance in it too - but obviously not with the witch. Nobody falls in love with the witch."[13]

text: Edward, a morally conflicted troll enslaved by Muriel,[50] was voiced by Robin Atkin Downes and played by Derek Mears (Jason Voorhees in 2009's Friday the 13th).[51] Mears was using an elaborate animatronic suit that he compared to "kind of like NASCAR where I'm piloting it but I'm not doing it by myself ... I think there's like five guys controlling the individual parts of the character. There's one person who does the eye brows, one person does the feet."[52] Janssen, who could not "say enough things about Tommy [Wirkola]", said she was especially impressed at how he stuck to his specific vision and "fought" hard to hire a number of unknown European actors that would otherwise be unlikely to appear in a big studio American film,[53] in effect making it a much more international production.[48]

text: Several Scandinavian actors were cast in major roles, including Pihla Viitala, Peter Stormare (who Arterton said had actually inspired her to start acting[54]),[55] Bjørn Sundquist, and Ingrid Bolsø Berdal.[56] In addition, actors from Germany and Poland (including Thomas Mann, Rainer Bock, and Joanna Kulig) and other parts of the world were also cast. Viitala, a self-described "big fan" of Renner, said she was nervous at first, but found him "extremely" easy to approach, made a good connection, and enjoyed working with him.[57] Wirkola said Berdal was chosen for her "piercing" eyes, adding: "There are a lot of Norwegians in the film. Minor parts, but I knew I could get great actors in small parts and Ingrid has a great physicality."[26] Stormare said he was only surprised at "how smart Tom [Wirkola] is, and how broad this fantasy is and the span of his imagination," his favourite aspect being how "some of the witches are so sexy and cool."[58] He compared the film's production to being in Disneyland, saying it felt like a dream to him.[38]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Wirkola said, "From day one, I was very clear that I wanted to shoot this thing in Europe. I really wanted that European feel of cold mountains, big forests, that sort of spirit was important to me. Luckily we did get to shoot it in Germany which is the homeland of the fairy tale. Shooting in natural outdoor sets is very important to me, compared to working on a sound stage."[9] It took place in Germany, at the Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam-Babelsberg, in a filming location at an old forest near Berlin (production designer Stephen Scott said that he searched for and found what he believed looked like a "medieval forest" free of human interference[59]) and in the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony.[60][61][62] After the film was delayed to 2013, the crew did a "couple" of re-shoots, including "a little bit" in the deserts of California (filming the post-ending scene, an extended version of which was also released in a promotional clip "The Desert Witch").[63][64]

text: Principal photography began in March 2011, using digital cinematography. Wirkola said, "Hopefully – you can see what I'm inspired by: Raimi and Jackson. Actually I'm a big fan of [Steven] Spielberg and the way he shoots action scenes. I think in a lot of modern action movies, it's hard to see what's going on. Shaky cam ... Hopefully what we strived for was to go a little retro in how you shoot action scenes."[8] The film was shot in 3-D[65][66] and its real 3D shots were done by lead stereographer Florian Maier and his team from Stereotec.[67] Wirkola said: "We shot half of it in real 3D and the other half was post converted. Actually the 3D thing wasn't there in the beginning. It was something the studio suggested later on. We embraced it and I think it actually really helps in getting people into this fairy tale world."[8] The filming process took three months.[46] A 12-minute B-roll footage was later released on the Internet.[68]

text: Stunt coordinator and second unit director David Leitch compared it to a "Jackie Chan hybrid of comedy and action."[36] Prior to the filming, Leitch organized a month-long boot camp in order to prepare Renner and Arterton (who said she was also glad that at least she could use her prior training that she received while studying at RADA) with extensive weapons, fight and stunt training.[32] Janssen said she enjoyed "flying", something that she always wanted to do, adding that despite her reputation as an action star it was the first film where she really had to do something physical (including suffering a minor accident on the set[69]),[70] because she could not use a double in the close-up scenes where she had the makeup on.[71] During one of the scenes, where Gretel is thrown through a wall and falls down several meters, a stunt double for Arterton was dangerously injured when a nail got lodged in her skull close to the brain; Arterton said she initially wanted to do this stunt herself but Wirkola would not let her.[72] Arterton herself suffered an injury when she sprained her ankle while running through the forest.[32] Stunts for the more aggressive witches were done by New Zealander stuntwoman and actress Zoë Bell.[73] Renner did practically all of his stunt scenes himself.[30][71]

text: Visual effects and post-production[edit]

text:
Most of it is all practical, even the witches flying on the brooms – it was pretty much all practical. They were all on wires, it was awesome! There's a scene [where] I come down around and literally there's 60 witches there. The rock structure was maybe 70 or 50 feet tall, it was massive, and I'd be shooting these witches and they'd just be flying off on wires.[28]
–Jeremy Renner (Hansel in the film)

text: The film's visual effects were created using mostly practical effects, supplemented by computer-generated imagery (CGI) created by Hammerhead VFX for about 15% of the film's special effects, such as the transformations.[64][74] Wirkola said: "I'm a big believer in just using CGI to polish what you get on camera. For me that's the ideal use of CGI. We have a troll in the film that is animatronic. I loved him. It took some convincing to get the studio along with the animatronic creature. There have been bad experiences with animatronics throughout various productions but I saw this company Spectral Motion. They did the Hellboy movies and I just loved it."[8] Wirkola added: "I come from Norway where we can't afford CGI. But this is a fantastical world of witches and trolls and I wanted to ground the movie where I could. The blood should look real."[17] Janssen, however, despite Wirkola's warnings, "was not entirely prepared for how involved and long that was going to be" and "actually wanted to burn the prosthetic make-up by the end of the movie."[13] She recalled being "so overwhelmed by what this prosthetic business was all about", saying: "Acting has been so specific for me and what I've learned - eyes, facial expressions, all of that stuff - and with something like this, you're robbed of all of this. Or I could no [longer] rely on things I've done in the past. It was different and frustrating at times because I had this circus of people around me in case something became unglued."[75] Muriel and the other principal witches were prepared by Mike Elizalde's Spectral Motion, who also created and handled the animatronic troll.[76] Jon Farhat was the visual effects supervisor and aerial second unit director.[77]

text: Conceptual design and production studio Picture Mill collaborated with Wirkola and Messick to create the title and opening credits sequence telling some of the early adventures of Hansel and Gretel as they grew up to become famous witch hunters. It was created with Stereo3D Toolbox through a combination of hand-drawn illustrations, practical fire effects and CGI animation.[78] The digital color correction was supervised by Stefan Sonnenfeld.[79]

text:
Dead Snow is my love letter to [Sam] Raimi and this is kind of its own thing. In the beginning, they said go crazy. But if you go too far with the humor, it becomes spoofy and loses its impact. Too gory and it just takes you out of it.[26]
–Tommy Wirkola in 2013

text: Janssen said the film is "definitely played with a bit of a wink and doesn't take itself too seriously."[13] Wirkola himself described it as "a little more grounded" and action-centered than Dead Snow.[26] He recalled that he has tried to downplay comedy elements: "If you go too far, it can turn into a spoof almost ... We shot a lot more than what is in the movie of course and it's just balancing it when you're cutting."[8] Speaking of graphic violence, he said that "the first version we tested was for sure the most extreme. Some stuff stayed in, some stuff got cut out."[8] By August 2012, Paramount was reportedly test screening two versions of the film, rated R and PG-13, and the R-rated cut received the positive feedback.[80] Wirkola said, "I was afraid. I actually made sure they could never cut it to PG-13 ... We always knew it was going to be R."[8] McKay said that Paramount's Adam Goodman "was perceptive enough to see the same thing and got behind it as well."[22] Wirkola said, "The pre-production and shooting went very smooth, but the post-production was very new to me and how they do things here with testing and the studio."[26] He said about the test screenings in particular: "I can see why they do it – there's a lot of money involved and they want it to hit as broad as possible. But I think it's a flawed process, I really do."[9] McKay said that Paramount executives might nevertheless regret the film's R rating.[81]

text: Music[edit]

text: Hans Zimmer worked on Witch Hunters as an executive music producer.[82] Icelandic composer Atli Örvarsson (co-author of Zimmer's score for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End) created the film score. Örvarsson had previously scored Season of the Witch so initially he was "a bit apprehensive" to work on another witchcraft film but was "too fond of the story to say no and found Tommy Wirkola's take on the subject matter to be very refreshing."[83] Örvarsson found it easier to collaborate with Wirkola due to their shared Nordic heritage and said that their discussions about the music for the film "might have had some of the most cold and dark humor of any Hollywood music meetings."[83]

text: The film's soundtrack, Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters - Music from the Motion Picture, was released in MP3 format by Paramount Music on January 22, 2013.[84][85] A physical soundtrack album was released on January 29, 2013 from La-La Land Records.[86] The song "Bundy" by Norwegian rock band Animal Alpha is used during the film's end credits, but is not included on the film's soundtrack.

text:
Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters - Music from the Motion PictureSoundtrack album by Atli ÖrvarssonReleased
January 22, 2013 (digital), January 29, 2013 (physical)Genre
Orchestral, electronic, choirLabel
Paramount Music, La-La Land Records

tag: table

text: Track listing[edit]

text: showTrack listingNo.TitleLength1."The Witch Hunters"2:292."Business Is Good"2:113."Trolls Serve Witches"3:334."Lost Children Crying, Vol. 2"2:335."You Do the Bleeding"3:346."There Are Good Witches in the World"4:117."This Place Could Use a Bit of Color"4:178."Goodbye Muriel"3:219."Don't Eat the Candy"3:4810."Burn 'Em All"5:0311."White Magic"1:5212."Shoot Anything That Moves"3:2913."The Fairy Tale"2:5314."Augsburg Burns"4:20

text: Distribution[edit]

text: Theatrical release[edit]

text: Initially slated for a March 2, 2012 release,[16] the film was pushed by Paramount Pictures to a ten-month delay for January 11, 2013.[88] Co-producer Kevin Messick later said: "We'd finished it but we were still discussing adding a coda scene, which we were able to shoot. And there was always the consideration that Jeremy [Renner] had Avengers and Bourne coming out. So the studio made a wise strategic move in finding a good release date for us."[17] Wirkola said that "the main reason is because they wanted to wait on Jeremy. He was cast before Mission: Impossible, Bourne and The Avengers. They wanted to wait until after those. I was, of course, disappointed then, but actually it helped because we came in under budget" and so the delay enabled him to re-add and shoot an additional scene that is set in the desert and which was cut from his original screenplay.[26] The first trailer for the film was released on September 5, 2012.[89]

text: The film was again delayed by two weeks to January 25, 2013 in the United States and Canada. A statement from Paramount suggested that the film was delayed to enable it to be released in IMAX 3D format.[90] In early January 2013, illegal copies of the film were discovered in a major anti-piracy bust.[91] Prior to its North American premiere, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters was first released in Russia on January 17, followed by the releases in Indonesia and the Philippines on January 23, and in several nations across Latin America and South-East Asia on January 24. On the same day (January 25) it was also released in more countries of Latin America, with the other parts of the world following between January 31 and mid-March 2013.[92] The film was also released in the motion effects theaters using 4DX[93] and D-Box motion enhancement technologies.[94] In Mexico, it was the first feature film to be shown in Cinemex's new X4D Motion EFX theater format, provided by MediaMation.[95][96]

text: Home media[edit]

text: The "extreme version" home release was announced by Wirkola to feature more comedy and "more guts and blood and gore, stuff that didn't make the [theatrical] cut."[5][9][17][23] Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was released by Paramount Home Media Distribution on June 11 in its original theatrical cut and a longer, unrated cut "with never-before-seen footage that was too intense for theaters". It is available in the versions: either a double Blu-ray edition (the 1080p AVC video and the 6-channel Dolby TrueHD audio) or a triple Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD limited edition, both coming with an UltraViolet digital copy and three behind-the-scenes special features: "Reinventing Hansel & Gretel" (15:41m), "The Witching Hours" (9:01m) and "Meet Edward the Troll" (5:25m).[97] In addition, just the theatrical cut of the film will be made available on a single DVD.[98][99] The unrated version is 10 minutes longer (98 minutes long).[100]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Los Angeles Times predicted the film would become a "box-office bull's-eye, with pre-release audience surveys indicating an expected $30 million for the opening weekend in the United States.[15] One week prior to the U.S. release, the film opened to a "huge" $8.6 million in Russia (the all-time 50th best opening in Russia/CIS[101]), which made its international prospects look good, according to Yahoo! News.[102] Entertainment Weekly predicted the film would "likely top the chart in its debut weekend" with $17 million;[103] similarly, MovieWeb predicted $17.5 million.[104] Paramount said they counted on $20 million.[105] Speaking on January 31, Wirkola claimed the film had so far "opened in 19 territories and went to number one in 18 of them."[17] The U.S. initial midnight screening at selected theaters made an estimated $500,000, a "so-so result".[102] The film took the top position on its first day's screening at 3,373 locations across the country, earning an estimated $6 million and suggesting a three-day total of $15–17 million, according to various estimates.[105][106][107]

text: The film topped the weekend's North American box office with $19 million, the first day's under performance blamed on bad weather on the U.S. East Coast. In addition, it earned $25 million in several other territories where it had already been released (representing about 40% of the international market).[108][109][110] However, it held well during its box office run, dropping only 52% in its second weekend and 39% in its third and fourth.[111] On March 19, Reuters reported that while the film "was no blockbuster in the United States", it was much better received in other countries for a $205.9 million total haul to date, including $24.1 million in Brazil, $19 million in Russia, $14 million in Mexico and $12.8 million in Germany.[112] The film's theatrical run ended on April 25, with a total gross of $225.7 million including $55.7 million domestically.[4]

text: Overall, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters was Paramount's fourth highest-grossing film of 2013, following new graphic novel and franchise entries: World War Z, Star Trek Into Darkness, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, respectively.[113] It is estimated that, following published production costs, marketing and advertising fees, and the percentage of overseas revenue that was lost by the domestic studio, similar fantasy reboots such as Snow White and the Huntsman, Mirror, Mirror, Jack the Giant Slayer, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and I, Frankenstein fail to match the total studio winnings for Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, which makes it one of the most financially successful films of the fantasy-reboot genre, despite having the smallest estimated budget and lowest Metascore of the recent entries.[4]

text: Critical response[edit]

text:
If the very title has you rolling your eyes, don't even bother. If, however, it makes you think you'd like to see the further adventures of the fairy tale characters, by all means take a chance.[114]
–Daniel M. Kimmel

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 15% based on 130 reviews with an average rating of 4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Alternately bloody and silly, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters fails as both a fantasy adventure and as a parody of same."[115] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 21 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[116] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[117]

text: Claudia Puig of USA Today wrote "this convoluted hybrid of fairy tale and fantasy/action/comedy/horror aims for campy fun, but comes off tedious and blood-spattered."[118] Andrew Barker of Variety called the film "inconsistently acted, and somehow both underwritten and overplotted," and while the action is "frequent and competently staged," it might feel too repetitive "as yet another witch is ripped apart limb from limb, sending yet another wave of viscera sluicing toward the camera."[119] Similarly, Stephanie Merry of The Washington Post wrote that "after a while it's easy to become numb to the repulsive sights and bored by action that once seemed intense and exciting" in this "rarely funny spoof that's heavy on bone-crushing and blood-gushing," giving it one-and-half star out of four.[120] Steven Farber of The Hollywood Reporter also wrote a scathing review, saying that while "Wirkola makes the most of the 3D technology", "the film is too fanciful to be truly revolting" for its gore effects and "despite its few wry jokes, the script is awfully thin."[121] Roger Moore of The Charlotte Observer gave the film one-and-a-half out of four stars, writing that Wirkola "focuses on the fights and flings all manner of viscera at the 3-D camera as limbs are whacked off and heads and torsos explode. Less attention was paid to the story, and the dialogue is a tad over-reliant on the random f-word to land a laugh."[122] Lou Lumenick of the New York Post gave the film zero out of four stars, writing that "nothing makes a whole lot of sense in this incoherent movie, whose director's philosophy seems to be: When in doubt, cut somebody's head off."[123] Kat Murphy of MSN gave it one star out of four, comparing this "big-budget faux fairy tale about skanky witches" to a "downscale video game for dull-eyed teens happy to lap up lame wisecracks and lots of gore."[124] According to Vulture's Bilge Ebiri, "if the similarly situated Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter took itself too seriously, the problem with Hansel & Gretel is that it doesn't quite take itself seriously enough."[125] Keith Staskiewicz of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C-, calling it "an intermittently fun, but overexcited and predictable mish-mash."[126] Alicia Malone of IGN rated it a 4.5/10, stating "there are a few funny moments, but overall Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is too similar to many films we've seen before."[127]  Calum Marsh of Slant Magazine lambasted the film's "sub-Tim Burton aesthetic" and wrote that "the result suggests A Knight's Tale as penned by Seth MacFarlane," giving it zero out of four stars.[128] Scott A. Gray of Exclaim! praised some elements of the film, such as "lush and colourful art design that recalls a Guillermo Del Toro production, sound creature makeup and special effects, decently choreographed action scenes and a pair of leads who do their damnedest to sell the limp script", giving it a score of 4/10.[129] Chris Knight of The Vancouver Sun called it a "mess of a fairy tale", expecting "a wiccan outcry at the film's depiction — nay, endorsement — of the torture of witch-folk."[130] Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail gave it one star out of four, concerned how it "has an alarming number of females being strung up, burned, shot, decapitated and eviscerated."[131]

text: Some reception of the film, however, was much more positive, in particular by reviewers for horror outlets. Michael Gingold of Fangoria gave it two-and-half out of four skulls,[132] while Jonathan Barkan of Bloody Disgusting gave it four out of five skulls, stating it "isn't a movie meant to scare or make you think but it is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable movies of its kind that I've seen in years."[133] Scott Weinberg of FEARnet wrote that "aside from some very clunky editorial missteps in the film's second half, there's a good deal of wit, enthusiasm, energy, and amusing attitude to be found in the dumb-yet-self-aware Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters," all while noting that he is "not the type to act snobbish around a ridiculous film that obviously knows it's ridiculous."[134] According to Ryan Larson of Shock Till You Drop, the film "is a mixed bag" but "fortunately, the lows don't appear as often as you would think," and, "if taken at face value, Hansel & Gretel is well worth the view."[135] William Bibbiani of CraveOnline, who criticized the film's inadequately "limp" marketing campaign, found the movie itself "inherently stupid" but in a good way, "played with humor, ultraviolence and anachronistic fetish."[136] Cinema Blend's Sean O'Connell stated that the film is "often mean and nasty, but that's really its saving grace."[137] Peter Paras of E! recommended this "super violent, pretty funny flick" for how it "revels in the mayhem".[138] Tom Russo of The Boston Globe, giving the film three out of five stars, called it a "splattery fanboy fun. Preposterous, clearly, but fun."[139] Jonathon Natsis of Filmink wrote: "Hansel and Gretel is not a 'film'. It's a 'movie', in all its unabashed, excitable glory ... big on blood-soaked entertainment and low on pretension."[140] Rick Florino of Artistdirect gave it four out of five stars, stating: "This has all the elements of a classic action flick, and it's destined for cult status. Welcome to the most fun movie of 2013."[141] DVD Talk's Jamie S. Rich summed up: "Is Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters a good movie? Probably not. At least not in any way that is defensible by regular critical standards. Is it a hell of a good time? Absolutely so. Unabashedly so. That's all it wants to be."[142]

text:
This Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters may [be] the only [one]; and, if so, no big whoop. But the good witches and the bad ones will linger in moviegoers' memories. And we'll always have Edward.[143]
–Richard Corliss

text: Neil Geinzlinger of The New York Times wrote that "it may not stay in the public eye long because this movie is probably not going to put up Twilight-like numbers," adding that "the script doesn't give them enough of the witty lines that can elevate these types of movies to must-see status, which is odd, since the producers include Will Ferrell."[144] Vince Horiuchi of The Salt Lake Tribune suggested that this film should have been made 30 years ago by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell, while instead "the Hansel and Gretel we're left with runs out of its magic potion far too early to let us enjoy its wicked possibilities."[145] A more positive comparison to Raimi and Campbell's Army of Darkness was made by Pete Vonder Haar of the Houston Press, who gave it three out of five "witch hazels" and wrote: "I'm not sure if witches are the next vampires/zombies, or if the hinted-at franchise potential has any legs, but this was a perfectly vulgar way to spend 90 minutes."[146] Tim Grierson of Screen International wrote that Hansel and Gretel "works best as an unapologetic B-movie action flick" and "feels like a first film in a franchise that's meant to set up the main characters and conflicts, which can then be fleshed out in sequels" but "the problem is that there isn't enough here to warrant a return trip to this semi-magical land."[147] Richard Corliss of TIME agreed with this sentiment, stating that "one might be enough — too much, for some tastes."[143]

text: Cult status[edit]

text: At the conclusion of 2013, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters made multiple annual movie lists dedicated to underappreciated or underrated films.[148][149] Movies.com opined it "is, hands down, the most underappreciated film of the year ... 'Proper' filmmaking or not, if you've got me cheering at the screening, grinning big and then walking out with a little extra adrenaline, you've done something right."[150] Ryan Doom from JoBlo.com wrote that "while usually that's the thing I mock, [Hansel & Gretel] somehow ended up pretty damn enjoyable ... Why not? It never takes itself serious and it knows exactly what it is: a silly film that isn't afraid to do what the hell it wants."[151] Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters has hence been labeled as a cult film by a number of horror-fantasy film fans, as well as by some critics who initially saw no merit in the movie. This significant financial and fan following have led some to question the initial perception of the film in relation to its debut in January, considered to be "a refuge for films that don't have a shot of generating good word of mouth or having a leggy run."[152] While Renner's box office draw and the film's "well-articulated premise" have been listed as major factors behind its  theatrical success, its ability to maintain a lasting fan following has also been attributed to its original concept, excellent gore and action sequences, Renner's and Arterton's tongue-in-cheek performances, and the film's ability to not take itself too seriously.[4][153][154][155] The film was nominated for the 40th People's Choice Awards in the category Favorite Horror Movie, but lost to Carrie.

text: Accolades[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text:
Year

Award

Category

Nominated

Result

2014

People's Choice Awards

Favorite Horror Movie

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Nominated

text: Sequel[edit]

text: On March 19, 2013, Paramount announced that a sequel to the film is in the works due to overseas box office numbers. Hansel & Gretel producers Ferrell, McKay, Messick, and Flynn were reported to return.[112][156] In June 2013, McKay officially confirmed his involvement and said that "everyone feels like as good as the first one is, we can really jack it up a level with the second one. So, fingers crossed everyone will come back" (including Renner and Arterton).[22] McKay suggested that Paramount might insist harder to make the film rated PG-13 this time.[81] Talking about Wirkola's "pretty insane" ideas for the second film, McKay said this could be one of those instances where the sequel does go further than the first one."[157] Regarding the storyline, he offered one hint: "Think of different kinds of witchcraft."[22] It was revealed that the sequel will have a 2016 release date.[158]

text: In September 2014, Wirkola announced that he would not be returning to direct the sequel: "I have been lately attached to a few more things, it's just a matter of time and priorities. I did Dead Snow, then Hansel & Gretel, and then Dead Snow 2. I want to do something a little bit different now and not just do sequels. I did write the script and I hope to be involved in it. But yeah, I won't be directing it."[159] He said "the first film was a learning curve for me working in the studio system and the script I wrote for the original was so different [than the final movie]. We ended up taking a lot out and altering stuff that first time. I tried taking what I learned and still delivered a sequel script that's an R-rated action film."[160] Cinema Blend reported Renner said that despite his busy schedule he agreed to reprise the role of Hansel because the first film "was a lot of fun doing the movie," but without Wirkola directing again he might be less likely to return for the sequel.[161]

text: On August 7, 2015, it was reported that Bruno Aveillan will make his feature film debut helming the sequel, with Wirkola as a writer and executive producer.[162]

text: Television adaptation[edit]

text: Deadline Hollywood reported on October 14, 2015 that Paramount was planning a Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters TV series. It is possible that this series may ultimately be produced in place of the proposed sequel.[163]


document_title: Antivirus software

question_text: who invented the first antivirus software and when was it written

question_tokens: who invented the first antivirus software and when was it written

root

text: Antivirus software

text: History[edit]

text: 1949–1980 period (pre-antivirus days)[edit]

text: Although the roots of the computer virus date back as early as 1949, when the Hungarian scientist John von Neumann published the "Theory of self-reproducing automata",[4] the first known computer virus appeared in 1971 and was dubbed the "Creeper virus".[5] This computer virus infected Digital Equipment Corporation's (DEC) PDP-10 mainframe computers running the TENEX operating system.[6][7]

tag: p

text: The Creeper virus was eventually deleted by a program created by Ray Tomlinson and known as "The Reaper".[8] Some people consider "The Reaper" the first antivirus software ever written – it may be the case, but it is important to note that the Reaper was actually a virus itself specifically designed to remove the Creeper virus.[8][9][10]

text: The Creeper virus was followed by several other viruses. The first known that appeared "in the wild" was "Elk Cloner", in 1981, which infected Apple II computers.[11][12][13]

text: In 1983, the term "computer virus" was coined by Fred Cohen in one of the first ever published academic papers on computer viruses.[14] Cohen used the term "computer virus" to describe a program that: "affect other computer programs by modifying them in such a way as to include a (possibly evolved) copy of itself."[15] (note that a more recent, and precise, definition of computer virus has been given by the Hungarian security researcher Péter Szőr: "a code that recursively replicates a possibly evolved copy of itself"[16][17])

text: The first IBM PC compatible "in the wild" computer virus, and one of the first real widespread infections, was "Brain" in 1986. From then, the number of viruses has grown exponentially.[18][19] Most of the computer viruses written in the early and mid-1980s were limited to self-reproduction and had no specific damage routine built into the code. That changed when more and more programmers became acquainted with computer virus programming and created viruses that manipulated or even destroyed data on infected computers.[20]

text: Before internet connectivity was widespread, computer viruses were typically spread by infected floppy disks. Antivirus software came into use, but was updated relatively infrequently. During this time, virus checkers essentially had to check executable files and the boot sectors of floppy disks and hard disks. However, as internet usage became common, viruses began to spread online.[21]

text: 1980–1990 period (early days)[edit]

text: There are competing claims for the innovator of the first antivirus product. Possibly, the first publicly documented removal of an "in the wild" computer virus (i.e. the "Vienna virus") was performed by Bernd Fix in 1987.[22][23]

text: In 1987, Andreas Lüning and Kai Figge founded G Data Software and released their first antivirus product for the Atari ST platform.[24] Dubiously, they later also produced Virus Construction Kits.[25] In 1987, the Ultimate Virus Killer (UVK) was also released.[26] This was the de facto industry standard virus killer for the Atari ST and Atari Falcon, the last version of which (version 9.0) was released in April 2004.[citation needed] In 1987, in the United States, John McAfee founded the McAfee company (now part of Intel Security[27]) and, at the end of that year, he released the first version of VirusScan.[28] Also in 1987 (in Czechoslovakia), Peter Paško, Rudolf Hrubý, and Miroslav Trnka created the first version of NOD antivirus.[29][30]

text: In 1987, Fred Cohen wrote that there is no algorithm that can perfectly detect all possible computer viruses.[31]

text: Finally, in the end of 1987, the first two heuristic antivirus utilities were released: Flushot Plus by Ross Greenberg[32][33][34] and Anti4us by Erwin Lanting.[35] In his O'Reilly book, Malicious Mobile Code: Virus Protection for Windows, Roger Grimes described Flushot Plus as "the first holistic program to fight MMC [malicious mobile code]."[36]

text: However, the kind of heuristic used by early AV engines was totally different from those used today. The first product with a heuristic engine resembling modern ones was F-PROT in 1991.[37] Early heuristic engines were based on dividing the binary in different sections: data section, code section (in a legitimate binary, it usually starts always from the same location). Indeed, the initial viruses re-organized the layout of the sections, or overrode the initial portion of section in order to jump to the very end of the file where malicious code was located—only going back to resume execution of the original code. This was a very specific pattern, not used at the time by any legitimate software, which represented an elegant heuristic to catch suspicious code. Other kinds of more advanced heuristics were later added, such as suspicious section names, incorrect header size, regular expressions, and partial pattern in-memory matching.

text: In 1988, the growth of antivirus companies continued. In Germany, Tjark Auerbach founded Avira (H+BEDV at the time) and released the first version of AntiVir (named "Luke Filewalker" at the time). In Bulgaria, Dr. Vesselin Bontchev released his first freeware antivirus program (he later joined FRISK Software). Also Frans Veldman released the first version of ThunderByte Antivirus, also known as TBAV (he sold his company to Norman Safeground in 1998). In Czechoslovakia, Pavel Baudiš and Eduard Kučera started avast! (at the time ALWIL Software) and released their first version of avast! antivirus. In June 1988, in South Korea, Dr. Ahn Cheol-Soo released its first antivirus software, called V1 (he founded AhnLab later in 1995). Finally, in the Autumn 1988, in United Kingdom, Alan Solomon founded S&S International and created his Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit (although he launched it commercially only in 1991 – in 1998 Dr. Solomon’s company was acquired by McAfee). In November 1988 a professor at the Panamerican University in Mexico City named Alejandro E. Carriles copyrighted the first antivirus software in Mexico under the name "Byte Matabichos" (Byte Bugkiller) to help solve the rampant virus infestation among students.[38]

text: Also in 1988, a mailing list named VIRUS-L[39] was started on the BITNET/EARN network where new viruses and the possibilities of detecting and eliminating viruses were discussed. Some members of this mailing list were: Alan Solomon, Eugene Kaspersky (Kaspersky Lab), Friðrik Skúlason (FRISK Software), John McAfee (McAfee), Luis Corrons (Panda Security), Mikko Hyppönen (F-Secure), Péter Szőr, Tjark Auerbach (Avira) and Dr. Vesselin Bontchev (FRISK Software).[39]

text: In 1989, in Iceland, Friðrik Skúlason created the first version of F-PROT Anti-Virus back in 1989 (he founded FRISK Software only in 1993). In the meanwhile, in United States, Symantec (founded by Gary Hendrix in 1982) launched its first Symantec antivirus for Macintosh (SAM).[40][41] SAM 2.0, released March 1990, incorporated technology allowing users to easily update SAM to intercept and eliminate new viruses, including many that didn't exist at the time of the program's release.[42]

text: In the end of the 1980s, in United Kingdom, Jan Hruska and Peter Lammer founded the security firm Sophos and began producing their first antivirus and encryption products. In the same period, in Hungary, also VirusBuster was founded (which has recently being incorporated by Sophos).

text: 1990–2000 period (emergence of the antivirus industry)[edit]

text: In 1990, in Spain, Mikel Urizarbarrena founded Panda Security (Panda Software at the time).[43] In Hungary, the security researcher Péter Szőr released the first version of Pasteur antivirus. In Italy, Gianfranco Tonello created the first version of VirIT eXplorer antivirus (he founded TG Soft one year later).[44]

text: In 1990, the Computer Antivirus Research Organization (CARO) was founded. In 1991, CARO released the "Virus Naming Scheme", originally written by Friðrik Skúlason and Vesselin Bontchev.[45] Although this naming scheme is now outdated, it remains the only existing standard that most computer security companies and researchers ever attempted to adopt. CARO members includes: Alan Solomon, Costin Raiu, Dmitry Gryaznov, Eugene Kaspersky, Friðrik Skúlason, Igor Muttik, Mikko Hyppönen, Morton Swimmer, Nick FitzGerald, Padgett Peterson, Peter Ferrie, Righard Zwienenberg and Dr. Vesselin Bontchev.[46][47]

text: In 1991, in the United States, Symantec released the first version of Norton Anti-Virus. In the same year, in Czecho Republic, Jan Gritzbach and Tomáš Hofer founded AVG Technologies (Grisoft at the time), although they released the first version of their Anti-Virus Guard (AVG) only in 1992. On the other hand, in Finland, F-Secure (founded in 1988 by Petri Allas and Risto Siilasmaa – with the name of Data Fellows) released the first version of their antivirus product. F-Secure claims to be the first antivirus firm to establish a presence on the World Wide Web.[48]

text: In 1991, the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) was founded to further antivirus research and improve development of antivirus software.[49][50]

text: In 1992, in Russia, Igor Danilov released the first version of SpiderWeb, which later became Dr. Web.[51]

text: In 1994, AV-TEST reported that there were 28,613 unique malware samples (based on MD5) in their database.[52]

text: Over time other companies were founded. In 1996, in Romania, Bitdefender was founded and released the first version of Anti-Virus eXpert (AVX).[53] In 1997, in Russia, Eugene Kaspersky and Natalia Kaspersky co-founded security firm Kaspersky Lab.[54]

text: In 1996, there was also the first "in the wild" Linux virus, known as "Staog".[55]

text: In 1999, AV-TEST reported that there were 98,428 unique malware samples (based on MD5) in their database.[52]

text: 2000–2005 period[edit]

text: In 2000, Rainer Link and Howard Fuhs started the first open source antivirus engine, called OpenAntivirus Project.[56]

text: In 2001, Tomasz Kojm released the first version of ClamAV, the first ever open source antivirus engine to be commercialised. In 2007, ClamAV was bought by Sourcefire,[57] which in turn was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2013.[58]

text: In 2002, in United Kingdom, Morten Lund and Theis Søndergaard co-founded the antivirus firm BullGuard.[59]

text: In 2005, AV-TEST reported that there were 333,425 unique malware samples (based on MD5) in their database.[52]

text: 2005 to 2014 period[edit]

text: In 2007, AV-TEST reported a number of 5,490,960 new unique malware samples (based on MD5) only for that year.[52] In 2012 and 2013, antivirus firms reported a new malware samples range from 300,000 to over 500,000 per day.[60][61]

text: Over the years it has become necessary for antivirus software to use several different strategies (e.g. specific email and network protection or low level modules) and detection algorithms, as well as to check an increasing variety of files, rather than just executables, for several reasons:

text:
Powerful macros used in word processor applications, such as Microsoft Word, presented a risk. Virus writers could use the macros to write viruses embedded within documents. This meant that computers could now also be at risk from infection by opening documents with hidden attached macros.[62]
The possibility of embedding executable objects inside otherwise non-executable file formats can make opening those files a risk.[63]
Later email programs, in particular Microsoft's Outlook Express and Outlook, were vulnerable to viruses embedded in the email body itself. A user's computer could be infected by just opening or previewing a message.[64]

tag: ul

text: In 2005, F-Secure was the first security firm that developed an Anti-Rootkit technology, called BlackLight.

text: Given the consideration that most of the people is nowadays connected to the Internet round-the-clock, in 2008, Jon Oberheide first proposed a Cloud-based antivirus design.[65]

text: In February 2008 McAfee Labs added the industry-first cloud-based anti-malware functionality to VirusScan under Artemis name. It was tested by AV-Comparatives in February 2008[66] and officially unveiled in August 2008 in McAfee VirusScan.[67]

text: Cloud AV created problems for comparative testing of security software – part of the AV definitions was out of testers control (on constantly updated AV company servers) thus making results non-repeatable. As a result, Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organisation (AMTSO) started working on methodology of testing cloud products which was adopted on May 7, 2009.[68]

text: In 2011, AVG introduced a similar cloud service, called Protective Cloud Technology.[69]

text: 2014 to present (rise of next-gen)[edit]

text: More recently, following the 2014 release of the APT 1 report from Mandiant, the industry has seen a shift towards signature-less approaches to the problem capable of detecting and mitigating zero-day attacks. Numerous approaches to address these new forms of threats have appeared, including behavioral detection, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud-based file detonation. According to Gartner, it is expected the rise of new entrants, such Carbon Black, Cylance and Crowdstrike will force EPP incumbents into a new phase of innovation and acquisition.[70] One method from Bromium involves micro-virtualization to protect desktops from malicious code execution initiated by the end user. Another approach from SentinelOne and Carbon Black focuses on behavioral detection by building a full context around every process execution path in real time,[71][72] while Cylance leverages an artificial intelligence model based on machine learning.[73] Increasingly, these signature-less approaches have been defined by the media and analyst firms as "next-generation" antivirus[74] and are seeing rapid market adoption as certified antivirus replacement technologies by firms such as Coalfire and DirectDefense.[75] In response, traditional antivirus vendors such as Trend Micro,[76] Symantec and Sophos[77] have responded by incorporating "next-gen" offerings into their portfolios as analyst firms such as Forrester and Gartner have called traditional signature-based antivirus "ineffective" and "outdated".[78]

text: Identification methods[edit]

text: One of the few solid theoretical results in the study of computer viruses is Frederick B. Cohen's 1987 demonstration that there is no algorithm that can perfectly detect all possible viruses.[31] However, using different layers of defense, a good detection rate may be achieved.

text: There are several methods which antivirus engine can use to identify malware:

text:
Sandbox detection: is a particular behavioural-based detection technique that, instead of detecting the behavioural fingerprint at run time, it executes the programs in a virtual environment, logging what actions the program performs. Depending on the actions logged, the antivirus engine can determine if the program is malicious or not.[79] If not, then, the program is executed in the real environment. Albeit this technique has shown to be quite effective, given its heaviness and slowness, it is rarely used in end-user antivirus solutions.[80]
Data mining techniques: are one of the latest approach applied in malware detection. Data mining and machine learning algorithms are used to try to classify the behaviour of a file (as either malicious or benign) given a series of file features, that are extracted from the file itself.[81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94]

text: Signature-based detection[edit]

text: Traditional antivirus software relies heavily upon signatures to identify malware.[95]

text: Substantially, when a malware arrives in the hands of an antivirus firm, it is analysed by malware researchers or by dynamic analysis systems. Then, once it is determined to be a malware, a proper signature of the file is extracted and added to the signatures database of the antivirus software.[96]

text: Although the signature-based approach can effectively contain malware outbreaks, malware authors have tried to stay a step ahead of such software by writing "oligomorphic", "polymorphic" and, more recently, "metamorphic" viruses, which encrypt parts of themselves or otherwise modify themselves as a method of disguise, so as to not match virus signatures in the dictionary.[97]

text: Heuristics[edit]

text: Many viruses start as a single infection and through either mutation or refinements by other attackers, can grow into dozens of slightly different strains, called variants. Generic detection refers to the detection and removal of multiple threats using a single virus definition.[98]

text: For example, the Vundo trojan has several family members, depending on the antivirus vendor's classification. Symantec classifies members of the Vundo family into two distinct categories, Trojan.Vundo and Trojan.Vundo.B.[99][100]

text: While it may be advantageous to identify a specific virus, it can be quicker to detect a virus family through a generic signature or through an inexact match to an existing signature. Virus researchers find common areas that all viruses in a family share uniquely and can thus create a single generic signature. These signatures often contain non-contiguous code, using wildcard characters where differences lie. These wildcards allow the scanner to detect viruses even if they are padded with extra, meaningless code.[101] A detection that uses this method is said to be "heuristic detection."

text: Rootkit detection[edit]

text: Anti-virus software can attempt to scan for rootkits. A rootkit is a type of malware designed to gain administrative-level control over a computer system without being detected. Rootkits can change how the operating system functions and in some cases can tamper with the anti-virus program and render it ineffective. Rootkits are also difficult to remove, in some cases requiring a complete re-installation of the operating system.[102]

text: Real-time protection[edit]

text: Real-time protection, on-access scanning, background guard, resident shield, autoprotect, and other synonyms refer to the automatic protection provided by most antivirus, anti-spyware, and other anti-malware programs. This monitors computer systems for suspicious activity such as computer viruses, spyware, adware, and other malicious objects in 'real-time', in other words while data loaded into the computer's active memory: when inserting a CD, opening an email, or browsing the web, or when a file already on the computer is opened or executed.[103]

text: Issues of concern[edit]

text: Unexpected renewal costs[edit]

text: Some commercial antivirus software end-user license agreements include a clause that the subscription will be automatically renewed, and the purchaser's credit card automatically billed, at the renewal time without explicit approval. For example, McAfee requires users to unsubscribe at least 60 days before the expiration of the present subscription[104] while BitDefender sends notifications to unsubscribe 30 days before the renewal.[105] Norton AntiVirus also renews subscriptions automatically by default.[106]

text: Rogue security applications[edit]

text: Some apparent antivirus programs are actually malware masquerading as legitimate software, such as WinFixer, MS Antivirus, and Mac Defender.[107]

text: Problems caused by false positives[edit]

text: A "false positive" or "false alarm" is when antivirus software identifies a non-malicious file as malware. When this happens, it can cause serious problems. For example, if an antivirus program is configured to immediately delete or quarantine infected files, as is common on Microsoft Windows antivirus applications, a false positive in an essential file can render the Windows operating system or some applications unusable.[108] Recovering from such damage to critical software infrastructure incurs technical support costs and businesses can be forced to close whilst remedial action is undertaken.[109][110] For example, in May 2007 a faulty virus signature issued by Symantec mistakenly removed essential operating system files, leaving thousands of PCs unable to boot.[111]

text: Also in May 2007, the executable file required by Pegasus Mail on Windows was falsely detected by Norton AntiVirus as being a Trojan and it was automatically removed, preventing Pegasus Mail from running. Norton AntiVirus had falsely identified three releases of Pegasus Mail as malware, and would delete the Pegasus Mail installer file when that happened.[112] In response to this Pegasus Mail stated:

text:
“
On the basis that Norton/Symantec has done this for every one of the last three releases of Pegasus Mail, we can only condemn this product as too flawed to use, and recommend in the strongest terms that our users cease using it in favour of alternative, less buggy anti-virus packages.[112]
”

text: In April 2010, McAfee VirusScan detected svchost.exe, a normal Windows binary, as a virus on machines running Windows XP with Service Pack 3, causing a reboot loop and loss of all network access.[113][114]

text: In December 2010, a faulty update on the AVG anti-virus suite damaged 64-bit versions of Windows 7, rendering it unable to boot, due to an endless boot loop created.[115]

text: In October 2011, Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) removed the Google Chrome web browser, rival to Microsoft's own Internet Explorer. MSE flagged Chrome as a Zbot banking trojan.[116]

text: In September 2012, Sophos' anti-virus suite identified various update-mechanisms, including its own, as malware. If it was configured to automatically delete detected files, Sophos Antivirus could render itself unable to update, required manual intervention to fix the problem.[117][118]

text: System and interoperability related issues[edit]

text: Running (the real-time protection of) multiple antivirus programs concurrently can degrade performance and create conflicts.[119] However, using a concept called multiscanning, several companies (including G Data Software[120] and Microsoft[121]) have created applications which can run multiple engines concurrently.

text: It is sometimes necessary to temporarily disable virus protection when installing major updates such as Windows Service Packs or updating graphics card drivers.[122] Active antivirus protection may partially or completely prevent the installation of a major update. Anti-virus software can cause problems during the installation of an operating system upgrade, e.g. when upgrading to a newer version of Windows "in place" — without erasing the previous version of Windows. Microsoft recommends that anti-virus software be disabled to avoid conflicts with the upgrade installation process.[123][124][125]

text: The functionality of a few computer programs can be hampered by active anti-virus software. For example, TrueCrypt, a disk encryption program, states on its troubleshooting page that anti-virus programs can conflict with TrueCrypt and cause it to malfunction or operate very slowly.[126] Anti-virus software can impair the performance and stability of games running in the Steam platform.[127]

text: Support issues also exist around antivirus application interoperability with common solutions like SSL VPN remote access and network access control products.[128] These technology solutions often have policy assessment applications which require that an up-to-date antivirus is installed and running. If the antivirus application is not recognized by the policy assessment, whether because the antivirus application has been updated or because it is not part of the policy assessment library, the user will be unable to connect.

text: Effectiveness[edit]

text: Studies in December 2007 showed that the effectiveness of antivirus software had decreased in the previous year, particularly against unknown or zero day attacks. The computer magazine c't found that detection rates for these threats had dropped from 40–50% in 2006 to 20–30% in 2007. At that time, the only exception was the NOD32 antivirus, which managed a detection rate of 68%.[129] According to the ZeuS tracker website the average detection rate for all variants of the well-known ZeuS trojan is as low as 40%.[130]

text: The problem is magnified by the changing intent of virus authors. Some years ago it was obvious when a virus infection was present. The viruses of the day, written by amateurs, exhibited destructive behavior or pop-ups. Modern viruses are often written by professionals, financed by criminal organizations.[131]

text: In 2008, Eva Chen, CEO of Trend Micro, stated that the anti-virus industry has over-hyped how effective its products are — and so has been misleading customers — for years.[132]

text: Independent testing on all the major virus scanners consistently shows that none provide 100% virus detection. The best ones provided as high as 99.9% detection for simulated real-world situations, while the lowest provided 91.1% in tests conducted in August 2013. Many virus scanners produce false positive results as well, identifying benign files as malware.[133]

text: Although methodologies may differ, some notable independent quality testing agencies include AV-Comparatives, ICSA Labs, West Coast Labs, Virus Bulletin, AV-TEST and other members of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization.[134][135]

text: New viruses[edit]

text: Anti-virus programs are not always effective against new viruses, even those that use non-signature-based methods that should detect new viruses. The reason for this is that the virus designers test their new viruses on the major anti-virus applications to make sure that they are not detected before releasing them into the wild.[136]

text: Some new viruses, particularly ransomware, use polymorphic code to avoid detection by virus scanners. Jerome Segura, a security analyst with ParetoLogic, explained:[137]

text:
“
It's something that they miss a lot of the time because this type of [ransomware virus] comes from sites that use a polymorphism, which means they basically randomize the file they send you and it gets by well-known antivirus products very easily. I've seen people firsthand getting infected, having all the pop-ups and yet they have antivirus software running and it's not detecting anything. It actually can be pretty hard to get rid of, as well, and you're never really sure if it's really gone. When we see something like that usually we advise to reinstall the operating system or reinstall backups.[137]
”

text: A proof of concept virus has used the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to avoid detection from anti-virus software. The potential success of this involves bypassing the CPU in order to make it much harder for security researchers to analyse the inner workings of such malware.[138]

text: Rootkits[edit]

text: Detecting rootkits is a major challenge for anti-virus programs. Rootkits have full administrative access to the computer and are invisible to users and hidden from the list of running processes in the task manager. Rootkits can modify the inner workings of the operating system and tamper with antivirus programs.[139]

text: Damaged files[edit]

text: If a file has been infected by a computer virus, anti-virus software will attempt to remove the virus code from the file during disinfection, but it is not always able to restore the file to its undamaged state.[140][141] In such circumstances, damaged files can only be restored from existing backups or shadow copies (this is also true for ransomware[142]); installed software that is damaged requires re-installation[143] (however, see System File Checker).

text: Firmware issues[edit]

text: Active anti-virus software can interfere with a firmware update process.[144] Any writeable firmware in the computer can be infected by malicious code.[145] This is a major concern, as an infected BIOS could require the actual BIOS chip to be replaced to ensure the malicious code is completely removed.[146] Anti-virus software is not effective at protecting firmware and the motherboard BIOS from infection.[147] In 2014, security researchers discovered that USB devices contain writeable firmware which can be modified with malicious code (dubbed "BadUSB"), which anti-virus software cannot detect or prevent. The malicious code can run undetected on the computer and could even infect the operating system prior to it booting up.[148][149]

text: Performance and other drawbacks[edit]

text: Antivirus software has some drawbacks, first of which that it can impact a computer's performance.[150]

text: Furthermore, inexperienced users can be lulled into a false sense of security when using the computer, considering themselves to be invulnerable, and may have problems understanding the prompts and decisions that antivirus software presents them with. An incorrect decision may lead to a security breach. If the antivirus software employs heuristic detection, it must be fine-tuned to minimize misidentifying harmless software as malicious (false positive).[151]

text: Antivirus software itself usually runs at the highly trusted kernel level of the operating system to allow it access to all the potential malicious process and files, creating a potential avenue of attack.[152] The UK and US intelligence agencies, GCHQ and the National Security Agency (NSA), respectively, have been exploiting anti-virus software to spy on users.[153] Anti-virus software has highly privileged and trusted access to the underlying operating system, which makes it a much more appealing target for remote attacks.[154] Additionally anti-virus software is "years behind security-conscious client-side applications like browsers or document readers", according to Joxean Koret, a researcher with Coseinc, a Singapore-based information security consultancy.[154]

text: Alternative solutions[edit]

text: Installed antivirus solutions, running on individual computers, although the most used, is only one method of guarding against malware. Other alternative solutions are also used, including: Unified Threat Management (UTM), hardware and network firewalls, Cloud-based antivirus and on-line scanners.

text: Hardware and network firewall[edit]

text: Network firewalls prevent unknown programs and processes from accessing the system. However, they are not antivirus systems and make no attempt to identify or remove anything. They may protect against infection from outside the protected computer or network, and limit the activity of any malicious software which is present by blocking incoming or outgoing requests on certain TCP/IP ports. A firewall is designed to deal with broader system threats that come from network connections into the system and is not an alternative to a virus protection system.

text: Cloud antivirus[edit]

text: Cloud antivirus is a technology that uses lightweight agent software on the protected computer, while offloading the majority of data analysis to the provider's infrastructure.[155]

text: One approach to implementing cloud antivirus involves scanning suspicious files using multiple antivirus engines. This approach was proposed by an early implementation of the cloud antivirus concept called CloudAV. CloudAV was designed to send programs or documents to a network cloud where multiple antivirus and behavioral detection programs are used simultaneously in order to improve detection rates. Parallel scanning of files using potentially incompatible antivirus scanners is achieved by spawning a virtual machine per detection engine and therefore eliminating any possible issues. CloudAV can also perform "retrospective detection," whereby the cloud detection engine rescans all files in its file access history when a new threat is identified thus improving new threat detection speed. Finally, CloudAV is a solution for effective virus scanning on devices that lack the computing power to perform the scans themselves.[156]

text: Some examples of cloud anti-virus products are Panda Cloud Antivirus, Crowdstrike, Cb Defense and Immunet. Comodo group has also produced cloud-based anti-virus.[157][158]

text: Online scanning[edit]

text: Some antivirus vendors maintain websites with free online scanning capability of the entire computer, critical areas only, local disks, folders or files. Periodic online scanning is a good idea for those that run antivirus applications on their computers because those applications are frequently slow to catch threats. One of the first things that malicious software does in an attack is disable any existing antivirus software and sometimes the only way to know of an attack is by turning to an online resource that is not installed on the infected computer.[159]

text: Specialist tools[edit]

text: Virus removal tools are available to help remove stubborn infections or certain types of infection. Examples include Trend Micro's Rootkit Buster,[160] and rkhunter for the detection of rootkits, Avira's AntiVir Removal Tool,[161] PCTools Threat Removal Tool,[162] and AVG's Anti-Virus Free 2011.[163]

text: A rescue disk that is bootable, such as a CD or USB storage device, can be used to run antivirus software outside of the installed operating system, in order to remove infections while they are dormant. A bootable antivirus disk can be useful when, for example, the installed operating system is no longer bootable or has malware that is resisting all attempts to be removed by the installed antivirus software. Examples of some of these bootable disks include the Avira AntiVir Rescue System,[161] PCTools Alternate Operating System Scanner,[164] and AVG Rescue CD.[165] The AVG Rescue CD software can also be installed onto a USB storage device, that is bootable on newer computers.[165]

text: Usage and risks[edit]

text: According to an FBI survey, major businesses lose $12 million annually dealing with virus incidents.[166] A survey by Symantec in 2009 found that a third of small to medium-sized business did not use antivirus protection at that time, whereas more than 80% of home users had some kind of antivirus installed.[167] According to a sociological survey conducted by G Data Software in 2010 49% of women did not use any antivirus program at all.[168]