While you’d expect a movie about Snow White to be a one-off, Hollywood adores its franchise, and so it look like Universal Pictures and producer Joe Roth are already thinking of the possibility of their upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman as the start of a series of movies.
Roth spoke to EW and said, “It’s meant to be the first in a series of films. This story will end, but there will be questions remaining for these three characters.”
Snow White and the Huntsman already has competition from Relativity Media’s Untitled Snow White Project, which has started shooting and hits theaters on March 16, 2012. Snow White and the Huntsman arrives in theaters two and a half months later on June 1, 2012.
Roth hopes fans will be drawn in by their take, which he likened to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, “We retain the basic story in the same way we retain the basic story of Alice (in Wonderland), 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.”
The producer also talked about what he saw in Kristen Stewart, after they initiallly searched for an unknown actress to play Snow White, “Frankly, what we did, we searched high and low for an unknown. Which was my want after Alice. 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.”
The film also stars Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman and Charlize Theron as the Wicked Queen.