Joe Roth

Snow White and the Huntsman Planned as a Trilogy?

As if it weren't crazy enough that two live-action Snow White movies battled for prime positioning on the 2012 calendar — with director Tarsem Singh's Untitled Snow White Project winning the battle to arrive March 16 instead of Universal Studios' June 1 release of Snow White and the Huntsman — it looks like sequels are already planned for one of the movies.

Producer Joe Roth (Alice in Wonderland), who is working on Snow White and the Huntsman, revealed to Entertainment Weekly that the movie is indeed planned as the start of a trilogy.

• Snow White and the Huntsman
• Joe Roth
• Kristen Stewart
• Chris Hemsworth

Johnny Depp Sought for Snow White and the Huntsman

As it is with a large majority of movies being produced today, Johnny Depp has been offered a role. The Wrap reports that Depp is being sought for the lead role in Universal's Snow White and the Huntsman, a revised version of the classic fairy tale. The project would reunite Depp with his Alice in Wonderland producer Joe Roth.

The script, written by newcomer Evan Daugherty was the subject of a studio bidding war, and has British commercials director Rupert Sanders attached to make his directorial debut. The story would clearly expand the role of the Huntsman from the original tale, instead making him an eventual mentor to Snow White after the two escape from bounty hunters.

• Snow White and the Huntsman
• Johnny Depp
• Joe Roth
• Tom Hardy

First Transformers, Then G.I. Joe, and Now...Max Steel?

Mattel is on a roll this summer, with two blockbusters based on their action figures (the mega-hit Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and the upcoming G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), and they're looking to keep their success going. Variety reports that the popular toymaker has teamed with Paramount Pictures and XXX producer Joe Roth to adapt Max Steel for the big screen. Considering the toy's back-story, basically an extreme sports enthusiast employed by a secret agency, the choice of Roth was obvious.

The action figure was first introduced in 1999 to modest domestic success but really caught on in Latin America, where Max Steel is the top-selling action figure, and is a market that Mattel is expressly looking to appease. Mattel VP Barry Waldo commented on this, saying:

A theatrical film plays a significant role to relaunch the franchise. But we have a strong Latin consumer we're going to keep happy while broadening the franchise for the rest of the world. We wouldn't do ourselves a favor if we turned a blind eye to it. That's the artistic challenge we've got.

Max Steel may seem like a tough sell for a movie, but it still has to be far easier than the adaptation of Mattel's View-Master that DreamWorks is considering.

• XXX
• Max Steel
• Joe Roth