Kristen Stewart

 

Credit: Evan Agostini/AP

I have never understood the mentality behind the competing projects moments that erupt from time to time in Hollywood, but I've been ground zero for one of them, and it's something that will end up happening over and over again.  The latest example just heated up today with the announcement that "Snow White And The Huntsman" is moving up to a June 2012 release date, effectively trumping Relativity Media's plan to release their "Snow White" movie at the end of the same month.

This has been a brutal race already, but this decision is beyond aggressive.  Just the idea that there were two version of "Snow White" in development was already potentially bloody, but there were originally a full seven months between them.  Now, they're set for release less that four weeks apart.  At this point, I'm curious to see how Universal and Relativity handle this, because one of these movies is going end up on the short end of the stick.

It doesn't always come down to what's first, of course.  "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon" is a good example of one of these races where the second one in release managed to be the box-office giant.  And sometimes, neither film ends up working, as with "Dante's Peak" and "Volcano."  In more cases, someone blinks and pulls the plug on one of the films before they even go into production.  And since both of these "Snow White" projects are still hypothetical, there's still time for anything to happen.

I don't even think it boils down to star power here, since each film has managed to put together interesting casts, and we're looking at two filmmakers who will no doubt bring a lot of style to the table.  With "Snow White And The Huntsman," it sounds like the more unconventional take on the story, which Kristen Stewart playing Snow White and Chris Hemsworth as The Huntsman who realizes that he can't kill her, instead training her to go to war with the Queen (Charlize Theron) who wants her dead.  Sam Claflin, poised to bore audiences silly in "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" this weekend, is onboard as the Prince, and Rupert Sanders is directing the film.

With "The Brothers Grimm: Snow White," Tarsem Singh will be directing Julia Robers as the queen, Lily Collins as Snow White, and Armie Hammer.  And while Julia Roberts is probably the biggest star in either film, she's no guarantee of box office success anymore.  So when this showdown does happen, it's going to come down to which film, if either of them, manages to capture the imagination of the public.  I'm still not convinced the audience cares about even one "Snow White" film, but we're about to find out if they can care about two.

"Snow White and the Huntsman" will be in theaters on June 1st, 2012.
"The Brothers Grimm: Snow White" will be in theaters on June 29th, 2012.