Following the oscillation of hesitant studio opinion around “Snow White and the Huntsman,” it's nice to see everything settle down and reflect the film as the flavorless, modest earner that is its destiny. No person could be happier for this news though than director Rupert Sanders, who, with this weekend's $55 million box office take, finds himself in the enviable position of assessing future projects, two of which he's recently teased to the public.
Of course, with 'Snow White' now judged as nowhere near a failure, Universal are actually back on board with Sanders helming the sequel, and an offer has been made. The director recently spoke to The Guardian in a recent profile, and addressed the potential for the next installment, currently being written by David Koepp. "I'm actually ready to get back," Sanders said. “I've got an interesting theme in mind, so we'll see… if it's right, we'll do it, if it's not, we won't.” He's obviously playing coy about sequel involvement at this point, probably because he's just let out a sigh of relief at the situation overall, but Sanders has also announced a few projects that might be more interesting to pursue if he doesn't.
He has two that he's announced in the article and on the red carpet; one being a story based around the DEA's beginnings in 1970s New York, and the other a science fiction version of “Battle of Algiers.” For the sci-fi film, Sanders is of course referring to the 1966 film directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, which was based around the real-life Algerian Revolution against the French Foreign Legion. The film was world-renowned upon release, and still holds up today with its passionately political documentary aesthetic, and the question of where Sanders could go with an updated version in this age of unrest is an interesting one indeed.
We must admit, both of these projects sound eons more enticing than another bleak entry into the “Snow White” storyline, so what's stopping Sanders from moving on? Most likely a nice chunk of change, for starters, and also perhaps the clout to get some of these projects off the ground and into production. Hopefully though, Sanders will go the Neill Blomkamp route and pursue interesting projects, while letting his first film's success direct, but not dictate, his future output for years to come.