Snow White Vs... Well, Snow White

Is this the REAL Smackdown for 2012 bragging rights? Many industry experts are predicting the big battle of 2012 will be The Amazing Spider-Man Vs. The Dark Knight Rises or better yet Marvel's superhero mash-up The Avengers Vs. Anything In Its Path. But for me, the most exciting battle of next year will be between Snow White and her adversary, Snow White. The two films being released by Universal and Relativity respectively are indeed to very different films which are being released only weeks apart. Will this be remembered as the "Battle of the Snow Whites?"

"Mirror Mirror On The Wall, Who Will Triumph And Who Will Fall"

This time next year, we will all know the answer. 2011 has found similarly themed movies such as Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, X-Men: First Class and Green Lantern all competing for superhero glory, with Thor likely ending up being top dog. Then there was the battle of the billion dollar movies between Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part II and Transformers: Dark of The Moon which Deathly Hallows Part II won by getting there first and in less days than the Autobots. That said, it's nothing compared to next year's fairy tale showdown, where two big-budget Snow White films will be fighting off one another to make it to the box office! As of right now Relativity is taking pole position at the moment with their film due out next March.

Universal's Snow White and the Huntsman has just begun production and to prove a point, its leading MAN and women Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, and Chris Hemsworth all showed up at Comic-Con to tout the film. Ironically they happened to run into director Tarsem Singh, whose own Snow White movie (provisionally titled The Brothers Grimm: Snow White) starring Lily Collins, Julia Roberts and Armie Hammer recently moved up the release date to March 16, leapfrogging Huntsman by several weeks.

"I met them, wished them luck," Singh told Vulture. Then he laughed. "Didn't mean it." He went onto say "I think we're so ahead of schedule on that one that Relativity Pictures [the studio producing the movie] could move it another two months earlier and I could deliver it," he told Vulture. To Singh, that time advantage is crucial. "I think they [Universal, who are behind Huntsman] could afford to go second, but I don't think we could. I mean, Universal's such a big machine, and they'd still be able to sell it to you as a different film. Relativity being what it is, I don't think we could have come out second and made it work. We had to be first."

At Comic Con, concept art was unveiled by the two competing studios. The initial reaction was that Relativity’s Snow White was a bit light in tone, more of a fairy tale than action adventure. It seems to be keeping closer to the source material than the Huntsman. Naturally Snow White and The Huntsman was far better received – after showing the main characters all kitted out in body armour wielding swords and looking like they were about to engage in battle (a Lord Of the Rings/Game Of Thrones hybrid quickly comes to mind.) Now, I am going to compare the two movies and let’s see which one comes out on top.

The Snow White Character: Actress

Snow White and The Huntsman (June 1st, 2012) – Kristen Stewart.

Out of the two, the most recognizable and the best known actress will no doubt be Kristen Stewart. These two films will be targeting the same audience as a certain Vampire franchise did that swept the movie world these past few years – and lone and behold, a certain Kristen Stewart starred in that as well (someone deserves a pat on the back for that casting decision). While she has her haters – primarily anyone who dislikes Twilight, she also has a vast army of fans who connect with her from that role of Bella. She can be sympathetic, tough and strong when needs be which many people don't give her credit for. She has shown that she can in fact act and she has a Joan of Arc feel about her – something that will aid her greatly in this role. While she is best known for the role of Bella, she made new fans when she starred alongside Jesse Eisenberg in the cult favorite Adventureland. She also took sometime away from the Twilight franchise with underrated performances in The Runways and Welcome to The Rileys.

The Brothers Grimm: Snow White (March 16th, 2012) – Lily Collins.

Lily Collins on the other hand is quite an unknown name in Hollywood and an even bigger unknown to worldwide audiences outside of the US. She is quite young but that could work to her advantage for this role, as the early concept art has her portrayed as a young, innocent "virgin" type character. She resembles the Disney Snow White character the most out of the two actresses. She is English, and will no doubt be using an English accent throughout the movie. Her biggest roles to date have been on the Oscar winning movie, The Blind Side and on the post-apocalyptic horror flick Priest 3D. Having such an unknown actress in such a leading, prominent role may ultimately harm the movie, but at the same time, the promise of someone new may also intrigue the audience.

My Snow White rating: Stewart 8/10. Collins 6/10.

Supporting Cast: Snow White and The Huntsman

The main supporting characters in the Snow White fairy tale are typically the Handsome Prince and the Evil Queen. There is also the King and the Dwarfs but Universal here have added a huntsman character played by Chris Hemsworth (Thor) to their film. Not much was known of him outside of soap land but since then he has been thrust into the limelight big time with his casting as the God of Thunder and will next year appear in highly anticipated Marvel film The Avengers. He is currently on everyone's watch list. Even though he was third choice for this role, I think he is a strong addition to this cast. The Evil Queen is being played by Academy Award winner Charlize Theron and the Prince is portrayed by Sam Claflin (Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides). We have Ian McShane, Ray Winstone and Bob Hoskins playing three of the more prominent Dwarfs in the film as well.

There is no doubt that these are worldwide recognizable names, many of whom have a lot of  film and TV awards behind them. McShane is famous for his role in Deadwood, while Ray Winstone is famous for several successful British gangster movies. This has the feel of something quite big and epic. It has a seriousness about it, and Universal made sure that they have a well established supporting cast behind the already well known Kristen Stewart. The Hemsworth/Caflin dynamic alone is very interesting. Two young, up and coming actors who are considered heart throbs – could this be a love triangle of fairy tale proportions – an interesting spanner in the works no doubt.

The Brothers Grimm: Snow White: Supporting Cast

While Universal’s Huntsman has went for the big guns and splashed out the cash on a well known, experienced supporting cast while Relativity has went for a half and half approach. They've filled the principal roles with known and established names, but casting the Dwarfs positions with relative unknowns. This may have been deliberate, or could have come down to financials as well. Money is more than likely the reason. The Evil Queen here is being played by Julia Roberts – an Academy Award winner in her own right, but who is not known for playing these kind of fantasy roles – or baddies in general. This is certainly a odd choice, but given Roberts’ popularity and her ability to adapt to any given role, this could turn out to be a massive coup for the under dogs. While Huntsman has no principal king character, here director Tarsem Singh is sticking to tradition and has cast Sean Bean in the lead role of the King. Now this is smart casting. No question that Bean’s profile has risen a hell of a lot this past year with his critically acclaimed role in Game Of Thrones. In that role, he also played a father who was on the defensive and this role looks to be very similar. If Bean can bring that intensity and passion to the role of the King, then we could be onto another casting winner.

The choice of Prince is also more traditional here, more in terms of looks/height etc. While Universal clearly went for the teen heart throb type with Sam Caflin, Relativity has acquired the talents of Armie Hammer, who is tall, has blonde hair and square jawed – connotations associated with a typical fairy tale prince. And with his powerful performance in The Social Network in the bag and his upcoming star turn opposite Johnny Depp in The Lone Ranger, there is every reason to believe he will knock this out of the park. That was all the positives. The negatives come with the casting of the Dwarfs. Due to financial reasons, no doubt, a bunch of unknowns have nabbed the roles of Snow Whites small friends. Nathan Lane (The Birdcage) is by far the most recognisable actor to portray one of the Dwarfs. Ultimately thought this might not be a massive issue – if the principal cast can get the job done, then the lack of a big name "dwarf" should not matter. Yes, they play an important part of the story, but not having a big name in one of these roles should not harm the overall production.

My Supporting Cast Rating: Huntsman 9/10. The Brothers Grimm: Snow White 8/10.

Box Office Estimates

Out of the two movies, Huntsman has the best release date. Smack bang in the middle of summer – a traditional time of the year when the studios roll out their big guns and normally expect big returns. The look, feel and A-list casting of Huntsman has all the ingredients of a summer blockbuster. Expect this to appeal to a wide range of the audience spectrum. Families, tweens and teens, couples – young and middle aged and depending on how much emphasis is placed on the action, this could also compete for the male demographic. But opening in the summer also means more competition. No doubt Universal will promote the hell out of this and exploit as many people as they can.

A week before Huntsman is released we have Men In Black 3 and the week after the Snow White adaptation we have Prometheus, not to mention the competing Tom Cruise musical Rock Of Ages being released on the same day as Huntsman. My belief is that it will open in first position, and will probably do very well - it could end up being one of the summers stand out hits – a lot will depend though on critical reaction, word of mouth and the marketing/advertising. If Universal can get across an epic – Lord Of the Rings feel, then they are onto a winner, and no doubt the planned trilogy will happen.

But beware also of this year’s Red Riding Hood. A movie that was supposed to open huge and have several sequels couldn’t even crack the $20M mark on opening weekend. I doubt Huntsman will suffer the same fate, as long as The Smurfs 2 isn’t opening in that weekend too.

Opening Weekend Prediction: $65M

While Tarsem Singh’s Snow White is opening in the first quarter of the year, and out of the traditional blockbuster season, there is no reason to believe that the film won’t be a success. My feeling is that Relativity is hoping that their film can do an Alice In Wonderland and open to $100M plus, similar to what that film did in March a few years back. Going on to hit over a billion dollars worldwide. I personally can’t see that being the case, but stranger things have happened. One big advantage here is that it is being released first. Before the studios settled on their respective dates, there had been a lot of back and forth in relation to which film would open before the other. Because the Lily Collins movie got filming first, and got their production house in order, it made sense that this one would get the early release– after all Universal were not going to ultimately jeopardize their movie over the calendar positions. But nevertheless, being first out of the gate can only be a good thing – you get your product into the market place first and that can only weaken the competition, no matter how different the movies appear to be in tone and visual style.

Competition here will come from 21 Jump Street which opens the same weekend and the very ambitious The Hunger Games which opens the week after. But no doubt, competition wise, Relativity's Snow White is in a healthier position. The audience makeup will be families and teens and young couples and maybe even the older demographic who will be more interested in this than the blood and action that will be advertised in the Huntsman. Again, a lot will rest on early reviews, word of mouth and marketing, which is as important as ever.

Opening Weekend Prediction: $48M.

There are pros and cons with both products. Even though Singh's got under way first, there is no denying the comic-con reaction was in favor of Huntsman. No doubt the dirty marketing tricks will rear their head early next year. But expect this to be a battle for the ages!