Although it debuted in the shadow of this summer’s box office juggernaut that is The Avengers, Universal is apparently pleased enough with the business that Snow White And The Huntsman has done both domestically and overseas ($118 million so far against a reported budget of $170 million as of Wednesday according to Box OfficeMojo) that they are starting to put a sequel into motion.
Deadline is reporting that the studio has David Koepp commencing work on a screenplay and that they are currently in discussions with Rupert Sanders about returning to the director’s chair for a second installment. Deadline points out that because of the way Universal picked up Snow White, Sanders was part of the package and his contract did not have a sequel option in it. This could prove to his advantage in the negotiations. The actors from the film all have standard two film options, so it looks as if Universal is hoping to squeeze a trilogy out of the film.
But in what direction will a sequel go? During the press rounds for the film a few weeks back both the Huntsman himself, Chris Hemsworth, and from some of the actors playing the dwarfs that potential sequels could focus on their respective characters. And given that the first film pretty much encompasses the standard fairy tale, I am sure that it is not entirely an unreasonable assumption to make.
But for any sequel to really get the go ahead, the film is going to have to so some strength going into its second box office weekend today and over the next few weeks. It should be interesting to see if it can continue to perform against the deluge of summer films coming down the pike.
