Snow White and the Huntsman was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2012, and in the United States on June 1, 2012, by Universal Pictures. The film was a box office success, having grossed $396.6 million worldwide against a $170 million budget. Critics praised the production design and visual effects, Theron's and Hemsworth's performances, and the score; action sequences and Stewart's and Claflin's performances received mixed reviews while the screenplay was heavily criticized. The film received two Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design at the 85th Academy Awards.
While admiring a bright red rose blooming during a white winter, Queen Eleanor of Tabor pricks her finger on its thorns. Three drops of blood fall onto the snow, and she wishes for a daughter with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, hair as black as a raven's wings, and a heart as strong as the rose.
The queen gives birth to Snow White but falls ill and dies many years later. After her death, Snow White's father, King Magnus, and his army battle an invading army of glass soldiers. King Magnus finds a prisoner called Ravenna, becomes enchanted with her beauty and marries her the next day.
Ravenna is in fact a powerful sorceress who used the false glass army to charm her way into the kingdom. On their wedding night, she confesses that there was a king much like Magnus that used her, hurt her, then discarded her. She kills Magnus before taking over the kingdom. Snow White's childhood friend William and his father, Duke Hammond, escape but are unable to rescue her, and she is locked away in a tower for years.
Tabor and its people deteriorate under Queen Ravenna’s rule. She periodically drains the youth from the kingdom's young women in order to maintain a spell cast over her as a child by her mother, which allows Ravenna to keep her youthful beauty. When Snow White comes of age, Ravenna learns from her Magic Mirror that Snow White is destined to destroy her unless she consumes the girl's heart, which will make her immortal.
Ravenna sends her brother Finn to bring her the princess, but Snow White escapes into the Dark Forest, where Ravenna has no power. The Queen makes a bargain with Eric the Huntsman, a widower and drunkard, to capture Snow White, promising to bring his wife back to life in exchange. However, when Finn reveals that Ravenna does not actually have the power to revive the dead, the Huntsman helps Snow White escape. The Duke and William learn that Snow White is alive, so William leaves the castle to find her, joining Finn's group as a bowman.
Snow White saves the Huntsman's life by charming a troll that attacks them. They make their way to a fishing village populated by women who have disfigured themselves to make themselves useless to Ravenna. The Huntsman learns Snow White's true identity, and leaves her in the care of the women. He returns when he sees the village being burned down by Finn's men. Snow White and the Huntsman evade them and meet a band of eight dwarfs. The blind dwarf, Muir, perceives that Snow White is the only person who can end Ravenna's reign.
As they travel through a fairy sanctuary, they are attacked by Finn and his men. A battle ensues during which Finn, his men, and one of the dwarfs are killed. William joins the group on their journey to Hammond's castle. Ravenna disguises herself as William and tempts Snow White into eating a poisoned apple before fleeing. William kisses Snow White, though nothing happens. A single tear is shed from her eye.
Snow White's body is taken to Hammond's castle. The Huntsman professes his regret for being unable to save her, as her heart and strength remind him of his wife, Sara. He kisses her yet does not notice a second tear fall from her eyes, as two kisses of true love breaks the spell. Snow White awakens and rallies the Duke's army to mount a siege against Ravenna.
The dwarfs infiltrate the castle through the sewers and open the gates, allowing the army inside. Snow White and Ravenna fight. Ravenna is about to kill her when Snow White uses a move the Huntsman taught her and stabs Ravenna to death. The kingdom once again enjoys peace as Snow White is crowned the new Queen of Tabor.
Cast
Kristen Stewart as Snow White,[6] the daughter of King Magnus and Queen Eleanor and the step-daughter of the evil queen Ravenna.
The Dwarves were played by actors of average height who had their faces digitally attached to small bodies. This caused a protest from the Little People of America.[7]
Bob Hoskins as Muir, the blind elder Dwarf, who possesses the powers of premonition. This was Hoskins's final role before his retirement from acting later in 2012 due to Parkinson's disease, and subsequent death in April 29, 2014.
Brian Gleeson as Gus, the youngest of the Dwarves who develops a bond with Snow White and later sacrifices himself to save her.
Production
Development
Evan Daugherty initially wrote the screenplay in 2003, when he was studying at NYU.[9] At the time, reboots of fairy tales weren't a popular film genre and, according to Daugherty, "no one really knew what to do with it."[9] More problems came when the release of Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm (2005) flopped at the box office which caused potential buyers to be hesitant about the script.[9] The script was finally greenlit after the success of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010).[9]
Casting
Theron and Stewart at Wondercon 2012 in Anaheim, California in March 2012
Film producers considered casting a lesser-known actress for the role of Snow White, with mention of Riley Keough, Felicity Jones, Bella Heathcote, Alicia Vikander, and Rachel Maxwell as possible picks. This idea became less likely as known actresses Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart were later rumored to be short-listed for the role.[10] On March 4, 2011 co-producer Palak Patel confirmed that Stewart was offered the role.[11]Winona Ryder was initially considered to play Queen Ravenna, before the role went to Charlize Theron.[12]Tom Hardy was supposedly first offered the role of Eric, the Huntsman, but turned down the offer. The role was then apparently offered to Michael Fassbender,[13] and then Johnny Depp, but both claim to have declined it.[14]Viggo Mortensen was said to have been in negotiations with Universal for the part, but supposedly turned down the role, too.[15] It was claimed that Hugh Jackman was offered the role, but that he declined.[16] In 2011, Thor star Chris Hemsworth was eventually cast in the role of the Huntsman.[17]
Filming
The Marloes Sands filming location for Snow White & the Huntsman
James Newton Howard composed the music for the film. The English band Florence and the Machine recorded "Breath of Life" exclusively for the film, which was reportedly inspired by Theron's character Queen Ravenna.[23][24] Ioanna Gika of Io Echo performed "Gone", a song that is played at Gus's funeral in the film.
Release
The film had its premiere on May 14, 2012, at the Empire, Leicester Square, in London.[citation needed] The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Region 1 on September 11, 2012,[25] with both the theatrical version (127 minutes) and an extended version (132 minutes) available on both formats. The film was released on the same formats in Region 2 on October 1, 2012.[26]
A book based on the film was published June 5, 2012[27][28]
Reception
Box office
Hemsworth at the Snow White and the Huntsman movie premiere, Sydney in June 2012
Snow White and the Huntsman earned $155.3 million in North America, along with $241.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $396.6 million.[5] In North America, the film earned $1.38 million from midnight showings.[29] For its opening day, the film topped the box office with $20.5 million.[30] It debuted in first place at the box office during its opening weekend with $56.2 million.[31] It is the seventeenth highest-grossing 2012 film.[32] Outside North America, Snow White and the Huntsman had an opening of $39.3 million, ranking second overall for the weekend behind Men in Black 3; however, it ranked number 1 in 30 countries.[33]
Critical response
Stewart at the Snow White and the Huntsman premiere, Sydney in June 2012
Snow White and the Huntsman received mixed reviews from critics. The film has a 49% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 240 reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The site's consensus states: "While it offers an appropriately dark take on the fairy tale that inspired it, Snow White & the Huntsman is undone by uneven acting, problematic pacing, and a confused script."[34] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 57 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[35]CinemaScore polls conducted revealed the average grade that filmgoers gave the film was a "B" on an A+ to F scale.[36]
David Edelstein of New York praised the film's revisionist tone and said the film was "strongly influenced by a lot of smart, feminist thinking".[37]Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4.[38]A.O. Scott of The New York Times praised Theron's performance and also wrote, "Though it is an ambitious – at times mesmerizing – application of the latest cinematic technology, the movie tries to recapture some of the menace of the stories that used to be told to scare children rather than console them."[39]Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Ravenna hates living in a world where men can feed on women's beauty and then toss them away. She's a fascist of feminism, and Theron's acting has the blood of operatic anger coursing through it."[40] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times said the film is, "an absolute wonder to watch and creates a warrior princess for the ages. But what this revisionist fairy tale does not give us is a passionate love – its kisses are as chaste as the snow is white."[41]Rolling Stone's Peter Travers called it "a visual marvel" while noting that Stewart "morphs convincingly from a skittish girl into a determined warrior princess."[42] MSN news said that Stewart "grows into her character, it seems, and eventually got this reviewer completely on her side."[43] Colin Covert of the Minneapolis Star Tribune gave the film 4/4 stars.[44]Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the movie a B+, calling it "Vastly superior to Mirror, Mirror", and praising Theron and Stewart's performances.[45]
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian said that while the film is "less jokey than the recent Mirror Mirror", "this Twilightified fairytale has the same basic problem," and that, "The result is tangled and overblown."[46]Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle called it "[a] slow, boring film that has no charm and is highlighted only by a handful of special effects and Charlize Theron's truly evil queen."[47] Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post also gave the film a negative review: "Overlong, overcrowded, overstimulating and with an over-the-top performance by Charlize Theron as the evil queen Ravenna, the movie is a virtual orchard of toxic excess, starting with the unnecessarily sprawling cast of characters."[48] Lisa Kennedy of The Denver Post gave the film two out of four stars and said, "Only Bob Hoskins as the blind seer Muir comes close to making us care. We can almost glean Snow White's heroic possibilities through his clouded eyes. As much as we'd like to, we certainly can't from Stewart's efforts."[49]Film Comment's Scott Foundas states that "Stewart’s Snow White... pouts her lips, bats her bedroom eyes, and scarcely seems to have more on her mind than who might take her to the senior prom—let alone the destiny of an entire kingdom."[50]
A sequel was planned, with director Rupert Sanders in talks to return.[51] In August 2012, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the sequel was shelved in the aftermath of the scandal involving Sanders cheating on his wife with Stewart and that a spin-off film concentrating on the Huntsman was planned instead, which would not star Stewart.[52] Universal announced a few days later that they were not shelving the sequel.[53] A 2012 report stated that Universal has authorized a sequel[54] and Stewart was set to reprise her role, but without Sanders to return as the director due to the scandal.[55] The script was written and production was set to begin in 2013.[54]
The film was originally scheduled for release in 2015.[56] In September 2013, Chris Hemsworth stated he did not know anything about the sequel while speaking to E!.[57] On June 4, 2014, Deadline reported that Frank Darabont, Gavin O'Connor and Andrés Muschietti were on the shortlist to direct the sequel.[58] On June 26, 2014, Deadline reported that Darabont was in talks to direct the sequel.[59] Originally Legendary Pictures was set to co-finance the film with Universal but dropped out and were replaced by Perfect World Pictures. On July 31, 2014, the project was described as a prequel titled The Huntsman scheduled for April 22, 2016, which would not star Stewart as Snow White.[60] In January 2015, Darabont left the project as director,[61] but the third leading role was set with Emily Blunt. It was later announced that Cedric Nicolas-Troyan would take over as the new director for the film.[62][63]Nick Frost would return as Dwarf Nion and Jessica Chastain would star.[64] On March 18, 2015, Rob Brydon, Alexandra Roach and Sheridan Smith were added to the cast as dwarves.[65]TheWrap confirmed on May 7, 2015, that Sam Claflin would return as William in this sequel.[66]
It was later revealed that the film would feature Ravenna's sister, the Ice Queen, and would reveal the origins of the Huntsman, while also continuing the story of the first film.[67]
^Daugherty, Evan; Hancock, John Lee; Amini, Hossein (June 5, 2012). Snow White & the Huntsman. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN978-0316213271.
