If 2011 was the year of sex buddies, with both No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits coming out in the calendar year, then 2012 is set to be the year of Snow White. As we’ve noted over the past few months, both Relativity Media and Universal Pictures have versions of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale coming out next year, but if the past week has taught us anything, as trailers for both films have been released, it’s that the two movies couldn’t be any more different.
First, let’s take a gander at the preview for the Rupert Sanders-directed Snow White and the Huntsman, courtesy of Apple:
As you can see, the tone in this film is incredibly dark (as are the visuals). The movie doesn’t so much look like a fairy tale as it does a Lord of the Rings-style action/adventure movie. There’s some black magic at play, some killer special effects and Charlize Theron looks terrifying.
Now here’s the trailer for Tarsem Singh’s Mirror, Mirror, which comes to us thanks to Yahoo!
Whether it succeeds or not is up to the viewer’s opinion, but Singh’s version seems to be more of a comedy and is much brighter and cheerful. Julia Roberts’ Evil Queen seems to have malicious agenda, but comes across as more silly than “evil.” Unlike Kristen Stewart, who is warrior mode in the first trailer, Lily Collins looks more like a Disney princess come to life.
But here’s the question: which Snow White movie will end up taking the box office?
One of the most important factors to take into account is the release date. Mirror Mirror is set to drop on March 16th of next year which, coincidentally (not really), is quite close to the weekend when Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was released (and that movie ended up making over a billion dollars at the global box office. As for competition, the film is going up against the R-rated action film 21 Jump Street, which probably won’t steal a big chunk of the key audience, but the next week is a killer: Gary Ross’ The Hunger Games.
Scheduled for the first week of June, Snow White and the Huntsman faces similar challenges. The movie is sandwiched between Men in Black III and Prometheus and shares a weekend with Rock of Ages. As it’s going to be with all blockbusters released next summer, Sanders’ movie is going to have to open huge in its opening weekend and then just hope to stick around in the #2 and #3 spots in the following weeks.
Next let’s take a peek at demographics and star appeal. Judging by the trailer, Mirror will be skewing much younger than Huntsman, which could mean padded ticket sales from parents having to accompany their kids into the theater, a benefit the latter film won’t have. In terms of the big names, however, it’s really up in the air. While Julia Roberts use to be one of the biggest box office draws in the universe, her name doesn’t hold the same weight that it used to (case in point: Larry Crowne opened at #4). In that same respect, Huntsman is also a question mark. While the studio hopes that Stewart will be able to bring over some of the Twilight brood, her co-stars in those films, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, haven’t exactly had success in that area, so it’s hard to say if she will.
Lastly, we have fan reaction and actual interest. When the trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman debuted it was met with some enthusiasm and surprise, as few really knew what to expect from the movie. Conversely, since the trailer dropped online Mirror, Mirror has been the butt of jokes all around the internet. Seriously, do a search for “Mirror, Mirror” on Twitter and you’ll understand what I mean.
But enough with the analysis, I want to know what you think. Which Snow White movie do you think will be best? Which one do you think will perform better at the box office? Which one do you plan on going to see? Take our poll below and leave your thoughts about the two films in the comments section below.
This poll is no longer available.
