Reel Facts & Opinions

FACT: Disney is moving ahead with a new spin on their SNOW WHITE property. THE ORDER OF THE SEVEN is a warrior-based version now in development, in which an English woman goes to Hong Kong for her father’s funeral and meets a group of seven international fighters, and eventually finds out that her stepmother is plotting her murder. This makes the third SNOW WHITE adaptation in the works; a still-untitled film with Julia Roberts as the evil queen is slated for a March 2012 release, and the Charlize Theron-led SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN project will be released June of 2012.

OPINION: In 1997, Sigourney Weaver and Sam Neill starred in a horror film based on SNOW WHITE. While it received mixed reviews, it was praised for keeping the dark tones that fairly tales tend to have; tones that usually get wiped clean by kid-friendly films. These new adaptations seem to be putting modern-day spins on the old tale in an effort to keep things fresh. Hopefully the central themes will still be present, but somebody PLEASE get a hold of the property; three films about the same character are just too much.

FACT: Tim Burton’s DARK SHADOWS adaptation has been given a release date of May 11, 2012.

OPINION: Not long back, REEL SPEAK blogged about wrong release dates for the wrong films, and this is a classic example. Never mind the fact that SHADOWS, a dark and gothic horror film loaded with vampires would be better suited for October (duh), but a look at the month of May nearly spells doom for the film. SHADOWS is sandwiched in-between THE AVENGERS (May 4), and MEN IN BLACK III (May 25). With AVENGERS a lock for repeat business and MIB an established box office juggernaut, SHADOWS, an adaptation that most kids might not even be familiar with, may get lost in the shuffle in a hurry. Even if the film is great, it can and will be perceived as a failure if it doesn’t make the dough.

What say you?