Production on Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean 5 isn’t expected to kick off until later this year or early next year, but the choice for director should be in within the next few weeks.  Here’s the reported short list:

• Fredrik Bond (The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman)
• Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki)
• Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman)

Deadline reports that the Kon-Tiki co-directors are the names that are coming up most often in discussions.  Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can) has been tapped to pen the fifth installment of the property.  Check out what producer Jerry Bruckheimer had to say about the picture in a recent interview with Steve.

As we were waiting to find out whether Rupert Sanders would return to direct a sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman or move on to another property next, it looks like the latter option has prevailed.  Though it’s not the one we expected.  Sanders is reportedly signed on to helm The Juliet, an adaptation of a short story by Alfred Bester.  There are few details on the story at this time, other than it is a sci-fi romance tonally similar to Bonnie and Clyde and set in the near future.  Henry Bean (Noise) wrote the script for the Sony Pictures and New Regency film.  Hit the jump for more on The Juliet and what this means for the other projects Sanders’ was reportedly circling.

Early reports have director Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) circling the Van Helsing reboot that stars Tom Cruise and is being produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.  Sanders and Universal apparently have mutual interest in maintaining their working relationship.  While the feature debut of Sanders brought modest box office success, the film was eventually overshadowed by the rumored affair between the director and star Kristen Stewart.  Cruise is currently filming All You Need is Kill and there is a good chance that Van Helsing will be his next project.  In other words, Universal needs to lock down a director soon. Can Sanders resurrect Van Helsing? Hit the jump for more.

Snow White and the Huntsman is part – and in some ways a culmination – of the worst instincts of big budgets Hollywood fantasies. It tries to combine the appeal of the Lord of the Rings films with a known property, Campbellian archetypes and a more dark and serious take on fantasy material. It’s garbage, easily one of the worst films of 2012. Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron lead the cast in this botched adaptation of the children’s classic. Our review of the film on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

A bit of news on two books that haven’t even been published yet, but are already on their way to becoming movies:

• New Line acquired the rights to Maggie Stiefvater‘s young adult novel The Raven Boys before it is released next week.  Akiva Goldsman will produce the adaptation, “a love story with a twist revolves around the offspring of psychic parents who is told that if she find her true love and kisses him then he will die.”
• Universal hired Justin Haythe (Revolutionary Road) to adapt 90 Church: The True Story of the Narcotics Squad from Hell into a script about “a green recruit whose eyes are opened by working in the corrupt Federal Narcotics Bureau in New York City in the 1960s.”  Dean Unkefer‘s book doesn’t come out until May 2013.  Rupert Sanders is attached to direct.

Hit the jump for both book synopses.

Universal has decided to go ahead with their sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman with a lot less Snow White (Kristen Stewart) and a lot more Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth). With the departure of screenwriter David Koepp, the studio is now envisioning more of a spin-off with Hemsworth leading the charge.  There is also no confirmation one way or the other on whether director Rupert Sanders will return. Though we try to stay out of the gossip end of this business, the well-publicized affair between Stewart and the married Sanders would make it awkward at best for a reunion.  The studio declined to comment on that front.  Hit the jump for more on this developing story.  [Update: The story has prompted a response from Universal on the state of Stewart's involvement.  Hit the jump to see what they had to say.]

While Rupert Sanders’ Snow White and the Huntsman continues to battle for more box office earnings, Universal is already moving forward with the sequel.  With the “origin” story in the Snow White franchise thus set up, it only goes to follow that the next chapter will be fast-tracked.  Universal has set David Koepp (Spider-Man) to write the script.  Hopefully, the sequel will have a more cohesive storyline, better dialogue and provide a payoff to its promises, something we discussed at length on last week’s podcast.  Sanders may or may not be back, but stars Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth are optioned for two more films.  Hit the jump for more on the sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman.

I really can’t stand the Because-It-Looks-Cool School of Filmmaking, and Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders could be this year’s valedictorian.  His obsession lies not with making sure his story makes sense or that his characters are interesting.  His triumphant moments are when he gets to make a big show of how he dreadfully he overestimates his visual imagination.  Lost in the expensive special effects and sloppy storytelling are the hints of a thoughtful subtext regarding the value of beauty in relation to a woman’s power.  But for Sanders, these moments are nothing more than a way to briefly shade his antagonist before rushing back to his one-dimensional heroine and her dull journey through pretty environments.

Universal has released an excellent interactive trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman.  Rather than the awful trailer-for-trailer trend, I wish more studios would take the interactive approach where the trailer can lead to behind-the-scenes featurettes, concept art, and other fun stuff.  The trailer-for-trailer thing only makes me feel annoyed towards an upcoming film, but this interactive trailer makes me want to see SWATH even more.

Hit the jump to check out the interactive trailer.  The film also stars Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Nick Frost, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, and Ian McShane.  Snow White and the Huntsman opens June 1st.

We’ve been provided with seven clips from director Rupert Sanders’ Snow White and the Huntsman to share with our readers.  The film takes an epic and dark approach to the classic Snow White tale, with Kristen Stewart starring as the titular heroine who trains alongside the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) in order to defeat the evil queen (Charlize Theron) who is bent on destroying the young beauty.  I’m a big fan of what we’ve seen thus far, and I’m eager to see Sanders’ fantastical and gritty visuals on full display once the film hits theaters.

Hit the jump to check out the clips.  The film also stars Sam Claflin, Nick Frost, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, and Ian McShane.  Snow White and the Huntsman opens on June 1st.

A new clip from director Rupert Sanders’ Snow White and the Huntsman has gone online.  We already knew from the trailers that this film has a very different tone than that other Snow White film that opened this year, Mirror Mirror, and this clip only reinforces the “dark and gritty” aspect of the film.  Chris Hemsworth’s Huntsman is being told asked by Charlize Theron’s Queen to hunt down that pesky Snow White, but this scene could seamlessly be dropped into an episode of Game of Thrones without seeming out of place.  Sanders has crafted a gritty fantasy take on the classic tale, but there’s also an air of the mystic or magical the permeates throughout.  I’m a big fan of what we’ve seen so far, and I’m eager to see an action/adventure film that has an intriguing and different visual style that stands out amongst the other summer fare.

Hit the jump to watch the clip.  The film also stars Kristen Stewart, Sam Claflin, Nick Frost, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, and Ian McShane.  Snow White and the Huntsman opens on June 1st.

Academy Award-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (Alice in Wonderland) puts her amazing vision and expert craftsmanship to work bringing to life the characters of Snow White and the Huntsman and presenting them to modern audiences through astonishingly intricate and carefully assembled designs.  In a film where symbolism is crucial to the story and wardrobe is integral, Atwood’s contributions blend seamlessly into a world that’s both fantastical and realistic and speaks volumes about the characters.  We sat down with Atwood at a roundtable interview to talk Snow White and the Huntsman and why it was an amazing treat for her to design costumes that reflected the themes of the iconic story and helped the actors transition into the world of their characters.  She also discussed her upcoming film, The Thin Man, directed by Rob Marshall and starring Johnny Depp.  Hit the jump to read our interview.

Two new TV spots have cropped up: one for The Avengers to remind you that it opens this weekend and one for Snow White and the Huntsman that reminds us it still opens on June 1st. The Avengers stars Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg and Cobie Smulders.  Check out all of our previous coverage here.

Snow White and the Huntsman stars Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth.  You can also get caught up on all of our coverage here.  Hit the jump to see the new TV spots, including a behind-the-scenes video featuring Hemsworth as the Drunken Huntsman.

Director Rupert Sanders’ Snow White and the Huntsman opens in a little more than a month and Universal wants to make sure you know all the key players, so they’ve rattled off this roll call TV spot.  Most of the marketing so far has been geared toward the power struggle between Snow White (Kristen Stewart) and Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) with little attention paid to the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) and even less to Prince William (Sam Claflin) and the Dwarves (Toby Jones, Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Bob Hoskins, Eddie Marsan).  Personally, I feel like the marketing machine has been humming along nicely up until this point; this 30-second teaser spot does little else but splash images of the actors across the screen along with their character names.  The new international trailer, however, is a nicely edited piece that reminds me why Snow White and the Huntsman, which opens June 1st, was one of our Most Anticipated movies of this quarter.  Hit the jump to check out both videos.

New images from Snow White and the Huntsman have gone online.  In this re-imagining, the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) is ordered to take Snow White (Kristen Stewart) into the woods to be killed, but instead becomes her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen (Charlize Theron).  Director Rupert Sanders has definitely provided the film with a rich, imaginative style, and I’m hoping the story is solid enough to warrant the excellent production design and c costumes.  The new batch of images include fresh pics of Sam Claflin (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) as Prince William, who hasn’t really been seen much in the marketing thus far.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film also stars Nick Frost, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, and Ian McShane.  Snow White and the Huntsman opens on June 1st. [Update: We’ve been asked by the studio to take the images down, but the new poster remains after the jump.