Notice a rising trend in movies nowadays?

Several are new and edgier versions or prequels or sequels to those fairy tails or legendary stories that used to enchant us a children: "Snow White," "Hansel and Gretel" "Jack and the Beanstalk," "The Wizard of Oz."

It's tricky sometimes to play off the old stories with new touches of horror, violence, character development or humor. Because Universal owns the rights to "The Wizard of Oz," Disney, which is producing "Oz," reportedly even had to change the shade of green for the Emerald City to avoid copyright infringements.

So what's next?

I fully expect a new Paul Bunyan story coming to a theater near us. I suspect he and Babe The Blue Ox will battle zombies programmed by an evil genuis for control of Minnesota.

What about Johnny Appleseed? Were those seeds just a front for something hidden in the bag? Was he a great entrepreneur or really rotten to the core?

Jack and Jill? Were they really after just a pail of water?

Why was the Big Bad Wolf so bad? We'll find out in the prequel.

Why was Little Jack Horner really sent to the corner? Was there something else in the Christmas pie? Was there an evil Big Jack Horner?

Inquiring minds want to know.