There are many arguments to be made that “Star Wars” ruined the movies, but one of the more persuasive is the way that it popularized the idea of the trilogy. George Lucas didn’t invent the concept (that would have been the Ancient Greeks, thank you), but by making both the original films and the prequels, he popularized the concept, ensuring that almost any hit film would be intended as only the first part of three films, each one bigger than the last. And to a degree, it makes sense: it mirrors the three act structure that virtually every screenplay uses as a template, enabling a complete story with ups and downs to be told over a longer running time.
Except we now live in a world where tentpoles are designed from the outset to be trilogies, leading to pictures like “Iron Man 2,” “Tron: Legacy” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” films which fail to stand alone, but instead serve to move the pieces around for the next installment, or to pay off a handful of pointless threads left over from the previous entry, pushing character and plotlines in wild directions inorganically, dictated by the need to have another tentpole ready two summers later. The latest film threatening to join them? “Snow White and the Huntsman.”
The revisionist version of the classic fairy tale, one of the big spec sales of last year and one of Universal’s great hopes for 2012, doesn’t even start filming until next month. But that hasn’t stopped producer Joe Roth (“Alice in Wonderland“) from telling EW that he hopes that the film will be the first of three, saying “This story will end, but there will be questions remaining for these three characters.” Whatever happened to happily ever after, eh? Interestingly, it seems to have caused some script changes as well, because *spoiler* the script that we read climaxes in the heroic death of one of the main heroes, but Roth’s comments seem to suggest that Snow White (Kristen Stewart), The Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) and the prince (Sam Clafin) will all live to grace another one-sheet.
Returning to the immediate future for a moment, Roth talks up the first film and its characters: “We retain the basic story in the same way we retain the basic story of Alice, a young girl meant to be the queen who is cast out. The Huntsman is a mercenary, in the sense that he’s a guy who is very able in the woods, more able than most anyone. His job is to capture runaway girls, who are all fleeing the kingdom because of the queen. He’s a nondescript bounty hunter, as we first meet him… He’s not a nice guy, but not only that, he’s someone who has lost hope and lost faith. He has lost his wife, given up on everything.”
He also discusses the casting of “Twilight” star Stewart in the lead role, saying that “Frankly, what we did, we searched high and low for an unknown. Which was my want after ‘Alice,; ” he says. “As we went through it, it just became evident to me that Kristen occupies a space in the universe where she’s a terrific actress only known for one part. I hope this is a movie that will appeal to those who find “Twilight” appealing, but also [Stewart] is someone who has some piss and vinegar in her.” And Roth also promises that Charlize Theron, who’ll play the wicked queen, will be a villain to remember: “She’ll be larger than life. Evil without any burden of guilt.”
Commercials veteran Rupert Sanders is directing, and Stewart, Hemsworth, Theron and Clafin will be joined by Lily Cole, Sam Spruell, and, as the seven dwarves, Ian McShane, Eddie Izzard, Toby Jones, Bob Hoskins, Eddie Marsan, Stephen Graham and Ray Winstone. It sounds like some kind of presence is planned for Comic-Con, although with the film not having started shooting yet, we can’t imagine it’ll be more than concept art and the chance for stalky fans to take pictures of Stewart. The film will hit theaters on June 1, 2012 after a rushed 10-month production schedule, with Universal and Roth hoping “Snow White and the Infinite Sadness” and “Snow White’s Finest Hour” will follow in 2014 and 2016.
Kstew fans bagging on Relativity\’s Snow White like Kstew\’s is going to be some Oscar winning box office hit. LMAO. Every movie that Kstew is in bombs at the box office except for Twilight. There is no need for even ONE snow white movie. A trilogy is just asking for a face palm failure. Universal must have money to waste.
@Lincoln
I\’m kind of glad they haven\’t made a Fables feature film. Could you imagine the wack job Hollywood would pull on that? I can and it doesn\’t look interesting. Unless Cronenberg were directing.
Btw, this Snow White film sounds lame and The Runaways sucked ass. The only good thing in that movie was the dude who played Kim Fowley.
My jaw slowly dropped as I read from bottom to top, and I ended with a nearly terminal case of the chortles. This is the most amazing thing I\’ve ever read.
And hey, to the Playlist staff, isn\’t it nice to know that you have such a wide audience? It\’s not just film nerds! Eleventweenyearolds read your site too!
But really, a trilogy? Why don\’t we make a movie based on Bill Willingham\’s fantastic Fables series instead? I\’d sit through that shit.
Change your panties, Pete. It sounds like you peed yourself a little whilst writing that. LOL!
I just had to come back and check this board.
And yet again someone insinuates that I\’m a Robert Pattinson fan AND female. You couldn\’t make this up LOL
Listen Rog. My name is Peter Elliot Spencer, 28 years old, born in San Francisco February 25 1983. The only reason I\’m awake is because my 5 week old daughter won\’t sleep. Now, you Twilight fans may be crazy enough to troll the net using different aliases but alas I\’m a married father of two and have better stuff to do with my time.
We can\’t all live in alternate universes like you Twilight fans seem to do.
lol, oh Pete …. how transparent you are. GTFO!
Kristen is a great, young actress, I loved The Runaways. Let\’s wait and see what happens with a trilogy. Not sure why Pete Spencer etc are getting their panties in a twist, one would think they are 40 year old women who hate on their fantasy lover\’s girlfriend.
But no…. not Pete 😉
so not only are you called a woman for not liking someone, but now called a douchebag?
so much for everyone having their own opinion. twihards are a nasty bunch, and this just proves that.
Riiiiight, if 10 months of production is a rush job I wonder what you guys think of Relativity\’s Untitled Snow white schedule O_o
Relativity studios has LESS time in post-production with a director (Tarsem) who is notoriously known for not dealing well with being rushed.
Kristen Stewart can\’t act so this movie will fail just like every movie she\’s ever made except for Twilight. Sorry to see Charlene stay on board I predict Box Office bomb. lol
I don\’t think an actor needs fans as krisbian or robtards
about the trilogy well see?
this has to be the funniest board on this website. guys being called women, secret twihard terms, and bellinda against ellen degeneres. picked a great night to come onto this website. lmao.
Ellen DeGeneres ??
Where the fck was Ellen DeGeneres mentioned ? PMSL
CAN\’T. FKN. BREATH
Peace out
@ paul
They should be tested or something, absolutely cray cray.
I\’m outta here, thanks for the lolz Krisbians.
Seriously though, get help, i\’m not kidding.
nope, I prefer and hope that Kristen is straight rather than to be the next Ellen Degeneres.
My point is trilogy is one opf the best thing that can happened to a movie if they could make the rest of the project to surpass the initital movie. Like Pirates of the caribean, do it right and we will watch it, do it wrong then that movie is doomed.
I\’m a twihard fan, and last time I checked I\’m right on my head. I\’m just one of those fan that like to feel the love and inspiration on a movie. Lest face it Stepani Myer wrote a very unique story.
I\’m glad that Kristen and Mr. Pattinson is not together anynore, that man is \”pig\” that will hump anyone. I\’m so disgusted by him.
@peter, i\’ve never in my life heard of the term \”robtard\” or \”krisbian\” it\’s too funny. i feel for the actors though, because it has got to be embarrassing.
are there are any other secret twilight fan terms the world should know about? lol
@paul
I might not like her as an actor but damn, she could do without these types of \’fans\’,
They\’re fkn crazy LOL
Who\’s Rob?
this is why i think twiards are fVcked in the head. i have nothing against kristen stewart or rob pattinson, but there fans are crazy. that being said this whole snow white \”franchise\” sounds awful.
Yes Kate, there is a bit of \”obsession\” going on here. Oh, self-awareness, such a gift.
\”a lot of good movie sadly end becaue they never think of making a trilogy out of it.\”
Yes, that is a problem. Why does no one in Hollywood realize the value of sequels?
Seriously Kristen Stewart fans need to look in the mirror. Some of you or at least the ones commenting are just as bad as the Pattinson fans! You are no better!
As for a Snow White triliogy…no thank you. All I see is Universal banking on the Twilight fangirls and Thor fanboys to make this a box office hit. So glad Viggo walked away from this project, only wish Charlize had done the same.
Rob, keep on keeping on. Have your opinion. Post your posts.
BUT: dude, just stop responding to the comments. I\’m on your side, but what every douchebag is looking for is a response. I learned it from 50 Cent\’s book on bullying.
You Twilight fans are fkn deranged LOL
I have better stuff to do but this shiz is too funny.
@yes
Holy shiz you were right ! PMSL
Are you what is known as \’krisbian\’ Bellinda ? PMSL
Oh Rob fans: They talk about her constantly. They analyze everything she does and says, and the way she says and does it. They look over her body with a magnifying glass, and discuss every inch of her ad nauseaum. They read all of her interviews and every article written about her. They read and discuss her movie scripts, and pass around/obsess over her leaked film stills.. They literally spend all day every day talking about Kristen Stewart. Now that\’s obsession. Rob who?
theres nothing wrong with trilogy, I like it even better cause it is giving me something to look forward seeing. Lets face it, a lot of good movie sadly end becaue they never think of making a trilogy out of it. And when it comes to Mr. Pattinson, although I can\’t wait to watch Breaking Dawn, please don\’t associate his name anymore with Kristen. Mr. Pattinson is a dog that I can\’t wait to kick out back to UK. I\’m tired of him.
@yes
So let me get this straight.
I was accused of being a Robert Pattinson fan, masquerading as a male just to bash Kristen Stewart ? LMFAO is this shiz for real ?
As it happens I actually think Pattinson is a decent actor with potential. I saw Remember Me (don\’t judge, date night, she wouldn\’t put out otherwise) and was pleasantly surprised.
Seriously though, that shiz you just described is funny as fck.
FAN WARS FTW!!!!
Your resident \’Robtard\’ (female) LOL
Some definitions are in order from the crazy land of Twihards:
Robtard = Kristen\’s boyfriend/co-star Robert Pattinson + retard
Owned is a Krisbian = a female who would go lesbian for Kristen Stewart
Krisbians, like Robtards, are fanatics who hate each other for taking away the love of their fandom lives.
And no. I didn\’t make any of that up. They truly are nuts.
I actually enjoyed Iron Man 2 lol.
As for this Snow White gig, I\’ll pass.
Star wars~is a clasic not in the genre of old timey hollywood classics & therefore it is preposterous,
to even categorize this.
Stewart considers fluttering her eyelashes and biting her lip \”acting.\” And now news of another franchise, another six years of her \”acting?\” Please make it stop.
I took a fast and sloppy shit this morning. It performed so well in the bowl, it announced itself as the first in a trilogy.
@paul
WTF was that lunatic on about?
So because I think Kristen Stewart couldn\’t act her way out of a wet paper bag I\’m now a retard (or Robtard, still don\’t get it) ?
Tween boppers for ya
@owned
Also, i\’ve just checked and yep, ALL my bits are there. Definitely male.
@owned
I don\’t sit behind my computer being a pretentious douchebag. I have to sit around the front, otherwise you can\’t see the screen.
And yeah, we complain about the Avengers and Captain America sequels. Quite a lot. Like when we complain about Iron Man 2 in paragraph two.
lol. poor pete now you are being called a robtard, which i guess is a play off of the word retard. sounds like grade school in here.
@owned
Robtards? WTF are Robtards?
Posing as men? WTF are you talking about? I\’m pretty certain it says male on my birth certificate.
Seek help dude, immediately.
@Hesher Robtards posing as men. They always get to web forums early to post negative comments about anything involving Kristen Stewart. No one is fooled by the morons because they write the same thing over and over again.
The Playlist changes their mind on Snow White and the Huntsman movie every other day They love it, they hate it, they love it again. Pick a side. There would be more stories about Tarsem\’s version but it\’s not popular enough to get much internet traffic. They\’re all just nerdy little bloggers sitting behind a computer being pretentious douchebags.
Riddle me this Playlist, are you complaining about the dozen planned Avenger movies or the eight planned Captain America films? How about the comedic Snow White that is filming without a title and releases less than a year away? Your bias is always showing, and it\’s ugly.
@Hersher
How am I a moron?
Because I have an opinion that differs to yours? GTFO.
Stewart fantastic ? Hemsworth fantastic ? Claflin fantastic ? As a previous poster stated, Charlize is the only good actor of the bunch.
Pete Spencer is a moron.
The cast for this film is fantastic. It all depends on how the first SW film does. Why do people moan and complain when nobody forced them to watch it? Obviously have boring lives
will chris even do another franchise? with thor, and then the avengers thats two right there.
Sounds interesting.
Couldn\’t agree more with Dana LOL. Once Twilight was over I was hoping we wouldn\’t have to put up with this girl\’s mopey azz . I was obviously wrong, sadly.
Theron is the only real talent amongst the main cast here IMO. Stewart has no screen presence, Hemsworth is getting so overrated after Thor that it\’s laughable and the other dude? Who is he?. I think I\’ll be giving this one the widest of berths.
So, Stewart\’s going to do a franchise playing a sweet girl who becomes tougher as time goes on, all while being torn between two hot guys? Wow. This is going to be quite the stretch for her.
To quote Lawrence Kasdan: \”Films like Star Wars and Jaws are extremely hard to make. You have to be enormously talented to do it. It\’s not George and Steven\’s fault that the people that copied them weren\’t talented.\”