'Snow White and the Huntsman' targets the top spot

It's the first weekend in June, and it's crowded with a month-long buildup of blockbuster releases. Snow White and the Huntsman (3,772 theatres) will have to compete against last week's Men in Black 3 and the behemoth The Avengers, which is still drawing in plenty of people thanks to its great word-of-mouth. Universal is giving a cautious low-to-mid $30 millions prediction for opening weekend, an estimate the Kristen Stewart-Chris Hemsworth-Charlize Theron picture will likely hit. Thankfully, Snow White and the Huntsman is clear of at least one liability. Mirror Mirror, the comedic Snow White picture that released this spring, took a completely different angle and was also not much of a success. The studio won't be battling fairy tale princess fatigue. As for the movie itself? FJI critic Daniel Eagan was not impressed, called it "both bloated and empty," and "grim, mostly humorless, and exhausting." I found myself wishing I were watching an episode of "Game of Thrones," and was less awed by the special effects than distracted by their encroaching ubiquity.

Aiming at Hispanic audiences, who are frequent moviegoers, For Greater Glory (757 theatres) is a sweeping Mexican historical war epic that will strongly appeal to this niche audience. Critic Shirley Sealy deems it "admirable but flawed," and sheepishly revealed she found the Wikipedia entry about the Cristeros War more interesting than the movie itself.

A tribute to B-movie horror, Piranha 3DD (86 theatres), will open in theatres and on-demand this weekend. The small theatrical release indicates this movie is eyeing the home market more than the theatre crowd, but the small release could yield a high per-screen average.

A few smaller movies will join the indie circuit this weekend. Pink Ribbons Inc. (3 theatres) explores the dark side and commercialization of breast cancer fundraising. Paul Williams Still Alive documents a filmmaker's search for his favorite minor celebrity, and Wish Me Away (2 theatres) follows country star Chely Wright as she comes out as gay.

On Monday, we'll see if Snow White intrigued both female and male audiences, and if Hispanic audiences turned out for For Greater Glory.

The tale of the competing 'Snow Whites'

By Sarah Sluis

The success of Alice in Wonderland prompted Hollywood to furiously pursue other fairy tales. That means 2012 will bring two Snow White films. Relativity Media's Mirror Mirror will open first, on March 16. Summit's Snow White and the Huntsman will release in the summer, tentatively on June 1. I've previously scoffed at the idea of two Snow White films. After seeing the second film's trailer, which came out today, I've revised my thinking. Each take on the classic fairy tale is so different I actually think audiences won't mind.

Snow White and the Huntsman, which stars Charlize Theron as the evil queen and Kristen Stewart as Snow White, takes itself very, very, seriously. The trailer is reminiscent of all those male-dominated action movies about Greek gods--like Clash of the Titans and Immortals. Creepy special effects, like a black cape dissolving into thousands of crows, or the evil queen sucking the life out of a poor woman, may make the magic-infused action worthwhile.

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Mirror Mirror, however, is the unlikely winner. The trailer is surprisingly cheesy--word is the movie is going for a PG rating. But there's also a feeling that the movie's poking fun of conventions, in the style of Shrek or The Princess Bride. As the evil queen, Julia Roberts is self-involved but not too scary--her evil notch is only slightly higher than when she tried to steal the man in My Best Friend's Wedding. Armie Hammer (The Social Network, J. Edgar) proves himself a rising star as the prince who's in a love triangle with the queen and Snow White. There are actually dwarves in this version (at least in the trailer). It looks so bad it's good, something the Internet has already picked up on. Indiewire called it a "future camp classic."

Mirror, Mirror looks like it may have some groany laughs, but at least it doesn't take itself too seriously. Snow White and the Huntsman has more work ahead of it. All action and special effects and cavalries riding in to battle? Not my cup of tea. With each movie taking an entirely different route, however, it will be interesting to see if the light or dark vision of Snow White wins over more audiences.

Kristen Stewart in talks for 'Snow White'

By Sarah Sluis

On the screen and off, Twilight star Kristen Stewart always looks so...well, grumpy. Is she one of those people whose mien just comes across as sour, or is she actually always in a bad mood? Given her limited range of expressions, it seems that her tenure as an actress would be limited, but instead she's carved out a niche playing moody characters.

Stewart is currently in talks to star in the action fairy tale Snow White and the Huntsman, and no, she wouldn't be playing Grumpy the dwarf. She would play Snow White--you know, the one who delighted in the seven dwarves' song "Whistle While You Work"?

This Universal reboot of the fairy tale has signed on Viggo Mortensen to play the Huntsman and Charlize Theron as the witch. Universal wanted Stewart back in December, then changed its mind and decided to pursue an unknown actress (including Sundance ingnue Felicity Jones), before returning back to Stewart.

It's a logical fit for Stewart to stay within the fantasy category. Can I point out that the book cover of Twilight has a character holding an apple, the same symbol that figures so prominently in the Snow White story? In Snow White and the Huntsman, the Huntsman character serves as a mentor and protector to Snow White, not so far from good vampire Robert Pattinson protecting Bella (Stewart) from evil vampires.

I suppose there's a danger of Stewart being typecast, but she's done plenty of films outside of the Twilight series: a rocker in The Runaways a young prostitute in Welcome to the Rileys, a teen theme-park employee in Adventureland. She can definitely break outside of the supernatural romance category, but why not sidestep into a fairy tale romance/action film? Stewart will also need a blockbuster hit outside of the Twilight series to prove she's a commercial draw(and avoid the Mark Hamill syndrome), and this project may be it.