Into the Woods is a 2014 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, and adapted to the screen by James Lapine from his and Stephen Sondheim's 1987 Broadway musical of the same name. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, it features an ensemble cast that includes Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, Lilla Crawford, Daniel Huttlestone, MacKenzie Mauzy, Billy Magnussen, and Johnny Depp. Inspired by the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales of "Little Red Riding Hood", the Charles Perrault fairy tale "Cinderella", "Jack and the Beanstalk", and "Rapunzel", the film is centered on a childless couple who set out to end a curse placed on them by a vengeful witch. Ultimately, the characters are forced to experience the unintended consequences of their actions.
After several unsuccessful attempts by other studios and producers to adapt the musical to film, Disney announced in 2012 that it was producing an adaptation, with Marshall directing and John DeLuca serving as producer. Principal photography commenced in September 2013, and took place entirely in the United Kingdom, including at Shepperton Studios in London.
Into the Woods had its world premiere at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on December 8, 2014, and was released theatrically in the United States on December 25, 2014. It was commercially successful and received generally positive reviews, receiving praise for its acting performances (particularly Streep's), visual style, production merits, and musical numbers, and criticism for its lighter tone compared to the source material, and the changes made for the film adaptation. It grossed $213 million worldwide. Into the Woods was named one of the top 11 best films of 2014 by the American Film Institute; the film received three Academy Award nominations, including a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Streep, and three Golden Globe Award nominations, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
Plot
A Baker and his wife wish for a child but suffer under a curse laid upon their family by a Witch. The Witch had found the baker's father robbing her garden when the baker's mother was pregnant, and demanded their baby in return. Because the Baker's father also stole some magic beans, the Witch's own mother punished her with the curse of age and ugliness. The Witch is able to lift the curse and allow the Baker and his wife to have a child only if they obtain four items for a potion to break her curse: a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold—none of which she is allowed to touch.
The Witch's demands bring the Baker and his wife into contact with Jack, who is selling his beloved cow, Milky-White, and to whom the Baker offers the magic beans his father left him, which Jack's mother accidentally grows into a large beanstalk; with Red Riding Hood, whose red cape the couple noticed when she stopped by the bakery earlier to buy and steal bread and sweets on her way to her grandmother's house; with the blonde Rapunzel (the Witch's adopted daughter and Baker's biological sister), whose tower the Baker's wife finds in the woods; and with Cinderella, who runs into the Baker's wife while fleeing the Prince and whose ball outfit includes gold slippers.
After a series of failed attempts and misadventures, the Baker and his wife are finally able to gather the necessary items. After the Witch regains her youth and beauty after drinking the potion, each of the characters receives a "happy ending". The Baker and his wife have a son; Cinderella marries the Prince; Rapunzel is freed from the Witch by the Prince's brother, whom she marries; Jack provides for his mother by stealing riches from the Giant in the sky, courtesy of the beanstalk, and kills the pursuing Giant by cutting down the beanstalk; and Red Riding Hood and her grandmother are saved from the Big Bad Wolf.