It's bad enough that we will be getting two Snow White movies next year - one from Universal Studios and one from Relativity Media - but it could have been so much worse. At the same time that those two films were in development, Disney began working on a live-action Snow White of their own. Fortunately the Mouse House fell a bit behind, ensuring that there wouldn't be three versions of the fairy tale playing next year, but I have some bad news: they're still going forward with it.
THR has learned that Disney has hired Michael Gracey to helm their version of Snow White called The Order of the Seven. The movie will be the filmmakers feature debut, as most of his previous work has been in visual effects and commercials. The project was initially going to be helmed by Francis Lawrence, who had been attached since 2007, but the trade says that he has moved on. Prior to Gracey's hiring the most recent update on the project came in February when it was announced that Oscar winner Michael Arndt had been hired to rewrite the film's script.
While the Brothers Grimm Snow White story is the basis for the project, the plot description bares very little resemblance. In the film the dwarves are replaced by a group of seven international warriors living in mainland China. Though the group has lost their way, they see an opportunity for redemption when an Englishwoman "being chased by an ancient evil" takes shelter with them. According to the story, the movie is more of an original action film than it is a fairy tale adaptation. Production will begin in 2012.
So it looks like we'll be getting three Snow White movies in the span of three years. Hooray.
