Hollywood is Going All In With Snow White-- But Do Audiences Still Want Fairy Tales?

For some reason Snow White is the new hot thing. In March 2012 Relativity Media is releasing their tentatively titled "The Brother's Grimm: Snow White" starring Lily Collins, who looks much as you would expect a real-life version of the title character to look. Julia Roberts has been cast as the evil queen-- those images have yet to be released.

In June of 2012 another a darker take on the fairy tale is being released by Universal Pictures, titled Snow White and the Huntsman, starring Kristin Stewart ("Twilight"), Charlize Theron as the evil queen and Chris Hemsworth ("Thor") as the huntsman. Based on the images released, this one has the edge-- but we'll have a better idea once we see more from its competitor.

But I have to wonder, why Snow White?



Don't get me wrong, I love fairy tales. I've seen every "princess" movie ever made by Disney many, many times. I swear I could sing half the songs right now. But the live-action version of Snow White is a far cry from the beloved movie of our childhoods. I suppose it's time for a reboot; after all, Cinderella has had more than her fair share.



But a movie based on a fairy tale is hardly a guaranteed success. Red Riding Hood was released earlier this year to a lukewarm reception and almost universally derisive reviews. I have yet to see it-- and probably won't bother. Right around the same time Beastly, another take on Beauty and Beast was released, and audiences mostly ignored this one as well. I hadn't even heard of it until recently.



On the other hand "Tangled," the wonderful Disney movie based on Rapunzel did very well-- though they did conspicuously choose to keep the main character's name out of the title in hopes of being able to market the movie to little boys.



So, it appears that animated versions of fairy tales do very well, while live action versions struggle to gain an audience.



I'm curious to see how well Snow White fares in 2012.