Relativity Media's calling checkmate on Universal Pictures as they've just announced they're moving the release date of their untitled Snow White film up from June 29, 2012 to March 16, 2012. Relativity's move comes just a little more than a week after Universal bumped up the release of their Snow White movie, Snow White and the Huntsman, from December 2012 to June 1st. It's highly unlikely at this point that Universal will advance their film another three months in order to again gain the advantage over Relativity's Snow White film, so Relativity looks to have won the Snow White release date race.
A week ago, Universal caught Relativity off-guard when it announced it would open Huntsman on June 1, 2012, instead of December 2012.
At this point, it’s unclear whether Universal has the leeway to push up the release of its film again. As of now, director Rupert Sanders isn’t scheduled to start shooting Huntsman, produced by Alice in Wonderland’s Joe Roth, until August.
Director Tarsem Singh is set to start production on Relativity’s Snow White tale next month.
The tug-of-war between the companies has surprised many in Hollywood, considering Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity has co-financed a slew of Universal titles.
It also reflects the shift in Relativity’s interests since Kavanaugh launched his own domestic distribution operation. Snow White — starring Julia Roberts, Lily Collins and Armie Hammer — is one of Relativity’s highest-profile projects.
Relativity leaves behind one of the most lucrative frames of the year in vacating the June 29 date, since it falls just before the Fourth of July holiday. But opening on the heels of Huntsman could pose difficulties.
The March-April corridor can be a lucrative stretch at the box office because of spring break and the Easter holiday, particularly for family-friendly fare like Relativity’s Snow White. But the Relativity movie will have plenty of competition; for example, Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games opens March 23.
The move could’ve been a smart one for Ryan Kavanagh and his Relativity shingle, being that he’ll be first out of the gate with a “Snow White” movie (it worked for volcano pic “Dante’s Peak” when it was released before the similiar-themed “Volcano”) but he’ll face some pretty fierce competition there in March – namely, “The Hunger Games” which is shaping up to be Twi-big. More so, June 29 is a good summer release date, particuarly with the 4th of July weekend being such a weighty time for cinema attendance so they’ve abandoned a really great slot for.. a really risky one. I don’t think it’s a good move and I think – it’s just my two-cents – the film, like everything else released in March of ’12, is going to be gobbled hole by “The Hunger Games”. Sure, it’s got Julia Roberts in it, but Julia hasn’t got the ferocious fanbase of Kristen Stewart, not these days anyway.
The two films couldn’t be any more different – Singh’s film is a campy, fun adventure film; “Huntsman” is a more serious rom-thriller – but it remains to be seen whether audiences have the appetite for two Snow White films, let alone one.
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