Universal Moving Forward with ‘Snow White and The Huntsman’ Sequel Without Kristen Stewart
After Snow White and the Huntsman became a mild hit earlier this summer ($155 million domestically), Universal has been eager to pump out a sequel to keep the momentum building. However, the recent gossip circus that has embattled director Rupert Sanders and his uh… star Kristen Stewart have led the studio to change direction quite radically.
THR reports that the sequel will now be a spin-off focusing on the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) and that Snow White (K-Stew) will be dropped altogether. No word yet on whether director Rupert Sanders will return to helm the film but we do know that screenwriter David Koepp has been bought out of his contract to pen the sequel, given the recent developments.
It’s quite uncommon for a budding franchise to drop its star going into the second installment but this isn’t a terribly surprising move. Not only would reuniting Sanders and Stewart on the same set be terribly awkward for all involved but from a rational standpoint, the young actress was widely seen as one of the weakest cast member and shall we say… quite extraneous in her own movie?
There is no guarantee that the sequel will move forward. As stated above, the movie was only a mild success at the box office, grossing $390 million globally off a production budget of $170 million. However, basing a franchise on raising star Chris Hemsworth seems like a much wiser choice for Universal when it’s all said and done. Production is tentatively set to begin in July 2013 after Hemsworth wraps up Thor 2.
What do you think?
14 Comments
Since Kristen is getting the boot,Sanders should too.I’m tired of Kristen getting all the negative attention and consequences while Rupert has gotten off largely scot free. Not saying Kristen is completely innocent here, but Rupert is the older one here and was the boss on set.He should have known better.
Sorry to go off on a rant there,but i felt like it needed t be said
I suspect if her acting was not so atrocious, and her public persona not that of a spoiled, snotty, brat, people might have given her the benefit of the doubt. Totally agree that it does however take two to tango.
As seen in Easy A, the girl is a slut while the guy is a stud
Agree with dirtywithclass above, there were 2 parties involved!
But saying that, I’m glad of this news. If they do go forward with the sequel. And heck, if it’s a sort of prequel for the Huntsman, could there be a possibility to get the other great person from SWATH back for another round – Charlize Theron?
Haven’t seen the movie but didn’t Charlize Theron die? lol But as a PREQUEL, yes that would totally make sense to bring her back.
Frankly, I think Sanders did more harm to SWATH than Stewart; Stewart may have been nearly as blank in the film as she is in so much of her other projects, but she also had the benefit of an excellent supporting cast to hold her up and mask her weaknesses. Sanders, on the other hand, has no concept of pacing and follows the most convoluted paths possible to get from A to B. His film could have been about a half an hour shorter than it was, and that obesity in length is the real reason I didn’t like the film all that much.
This smells like politics to me. Honestly, I don’t give a crap if Stewart cheated on Pattinson with Sanders; that sort of stuff isn’t my business. Hearing about it once is one thing, but seeing publications beat that dead horse over and over and over is something else entirely. She’s a human being. She’s allowed to screw up and do bad things. So are her male counterparts. I don’t think anybody really needs details about these sorts of things, but there’s a market for it, so that’s that.
Whatever the studio has to say for themselves, the timing of this coincides too much with the Pattinson kerfuffle for me to buy that they aren’t related. There’s no reason to treat this as anything other than a publicity move. MAYBE one could argue using the film’s box office take as justification, but I also think that that argument is predicated on proving that Stewart is to blame for the film’s commercial failure.
What you and me think doesn’t matter. Obviously, if the media keeps churning out stupid headlines about the K-Stew/Sanders affair, it’s because there is a lot of demand for it and it generates revenue for them.
Now I personally think that this is just an excuse for the studio to get rid of Stewart who is owed a lot of money if she is optioned for a second movie. Universal previously hinted (pre-scandal) that they could move on without her.
Good news all around as they are both terrible. If I was the studio I think I might have waited to see how Hemsworth fever is running after that Red Dawn remake comes out.
He is the star of Thor and The Avengers. They don’t really need to take temperatures. The guy is a hot commodity these days
The idea for a sequel to this one was bad and the spin off idea sounds even worse.
What? Don’t you want to know that the Huntsman went back to the Dark Forrest to chop wood and get drunk with his dwarves friends. But they must be recall to action to save the kingdom after an alien invasion??? That would make a fantastic movie!
I was pleasantly surprised with this film, but really a sequel? The only way it could work is to tell the story of how the Huntsman lost his wife pre-Snow White. I really don’t care about Stewart and Sanders personal lives. My problem is Stewart is the drippiest actress in Hollywood right now. I honestly don’t know how she ever gets cast in anything. It’s always like she just woke up. Hemsworth was the break out star of the film.
Hemsworth was way more watchable than K-Stew so this is good news in my book!
Cas, you did see Universals denying of this report,right?
I figured that would have been edited into this post or something
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