War of the Two Snow Whites

What is it with Hollywood and releasing two very similar movies within close proximity to each other? “The Prestige” and “The Illusionist.” “No Strings Attached” and “Friends With Benefits.” “Antz” and “A Bug’s Life.” “Deep Impact” and “Armageddon.” The list goes on and on.

It’s been a trend I’ve noticed for a while now, but few instances are as bizarrely coincidental as the war of the two Snow Whites. I heard about both movies about a year ago, when they were differentiated only by “the one with Julia Roberts” and “the one with Kristen Stewart.” But now that the full-length trailers have been released for both Relativity’s “Mirror Mirror” and Universal’s “Snow White and the Huntsman,” it’s interesting to watch the two side-by-side and wonder how this happened – and what the box office repercussions of this peculiar timing will be.

For an avid moviegoer it’s not that outrageous an idea to go see both films, assuming both trailers draw you in. However, for the average moviegoer, it’s usually a “this or that” sort of a deal. It all comes down to: which looks better? In the case of the two Snow Whites, they look like completely different movies. I’m going to let my heavy bias show when I say that “Huntsman” (starring Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, and Chris Hemsworth) looks like a medieval epic, and potentially one of the best movies of summer…while “Mirror” (starring Julia Roberts, Lily Collins, and Armie Hammer) looks startlingly obnoxious (“Snow way!” may be one of the most irritating lines I’ve heard in a trailer in a long, long time.)



Believe it or not, a 3rd Snow White movie is also in the works. Yes, you read that right. Disney’s “Snow and the Seven” is slated for 2013. So why is the idea of a live-action Snow White movie so alluring all of a sudden? Look no further than Tim Burton’s 2010 “Alice in Wonderland,” which grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. And after that kind of mind-blowing success, of course all the studios want a piece of the action. Closely after the release of “Alice,” the fairy-tale stories started popping up in rapid succession: “Red Riding Hood,” “Beastly,” and “Tangled,” along with the TV shows “Once Upon a Time” and “Grimm.” It doesn’t just end there: next year you can look forward to “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters,” and “Maleficent,” which will star Angelina Jolie in the title role in a re-telling of Sleeping Beauty from the villain’s perspective.

When looking at all this in such blunt terms, it can’t help but perpetuate the whole “is there an original idea left in Hollywood?” question. With so many sequels, remakes, adaptations and spin-offs, it’s easy to see where that comes from. And in defense of Hollywood, it’s easy to see why they do it. These movies already have a built-in appeal. People know the stories, and they like to see them brought to the big screen. Also, there’s the added bonus of the studios not needing to buy the rights to the story – which, as it turns out, is also the negative, because, well, then stuff like this happens.



Is there room for both Snow Whites? I think so. In this case, both movies are appealing to totally different audiences. “Mirror Mirror” is marketing itself as a family-friendly comedy-adventure, whereas “Huntsman,” which looks dark, violent, and action-packed, is aiming for a more mature demographic. What may keep both from achieving the heightened level of success they crave is the fact that they took such drastically different approaches, which will discourage demographic overlapping.

What “Alice” had going for it was that kids, parents, teens and adults all wanted to go see it. You couldn’t pay most of my friends to go see “Mirror Mirror,” and I highly doubt that the violence-packed “Snow White and the Huntsman” is going to be a family affair…though the huge fanbases for “Twilight’s” Kristen Stewart and “Thor’s” Chris Hemsworth certainly give “Snow White and the Huntsman” the edge. Even so, with “Mirror” up first (March 30th) and “Huntsman” galloping into theaters this summer (June 1st) only time will tell which raven-haired beauty will be officially deemed “the fairest of them all.”