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There have been lots of opinions about the unceremonious removal of Snow White from what should have been the sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman, but Forbes' Scott Mendelson has taken it to another level. He is calling for a box office smack down by placing Stewart in another franchise and scheduling the film up against 'The Huntsman'.
Instead of summarizing what he said, here it is in his own words:
"In yet another case of a seemingly inevitable reboot, MGM and Warner Bros. are teaming up to revive the Tomb Raider franchise. The Deadline story reports what should have been predicted, that the new franchise will focus on a “younger” Lara Croft and Angelina Jolie has better things to do than try to make her own variation on Never Say Never Again. Obviously the various executives involved are hoping for something akin to Hunger Games meets Indiana Jones meets (depending on the reliance on sci-fi gadgets) Alias. Considering how few female-centric action vehicles get made in Hollywood, I imagine every actress between the ages of 14 and 32 are going to be going for this. Offhand, aside from Gugu Mbatha-Raw getting her own high profile action franchise (if Gina Prince-Bythewood wants to direct, more power to her), I’d love to see Warner cast Kristen Stewart as the new Lara Croft, schedule the film right on top of The Huntsman and (all due respect to all parties) watch Stewart’s feverish fanbase smack the box office tar out of the “Snow White sequel sans Snow White” picture. But in all seriousness, there is something a little sad about the notion of a second Tomb Raider franchise still qualifying as a big deal purely because of the sheer lack of big-scale female-centric franchises. It would seem that the only way we’re getting more diverse franchises is by virtue of Hollywood rebooting the (comparatively) more diverse franchises of yesteryear."
Mendelson continues:
"Clickbait headlines aside, I am not kidding about Kristen Stewart theoretically playing Lara Croft in the new Tomb Raider film. The woman has been on a critical roll lately (Camp X-Ray, Still Alice, and Clouds of Sils Maria, for which she just became the first American actress to win a Ca esar award) and I still think she is a huge reason why Snow White and the Huntsman opened to $55 million in the summer of 2012. I am not sure if she can pull off the character, but frankly I kinda like not knowing (it’s why I would prefer a new Indiana Jones a little less predictable than the obviously capable Chris Pratt). Emily Blunt could do it in her sleep and Gugu Mbatha-Raw would be the outside-the-box “Take this movie seriously!” pick (that both are actually British helps), but in terms of box office clout, an automatic fan base, and a deluge of constant free media coverage, well, I think Ms. Stewart getting another high-profile action franchise would be karmic payback for being preemptively removed from the Snow White franchise that she birthed in the first place."
You have to hand it to Mendelson for saying out loud what others have been saying quietly.
But seriously, would Stewart's fans like to see her in a rebooted Lara Croft franchise or rather heating up the screen in a Marvel/DC film? Probably the latter.
There is no need to throw fuel on the fire by placing any film of hers up against 'The Huntsman'. It would only make the entertainment and gossip sites happy to relish in making money off the competition. And quite frankly, anything she does should stand solely on its own and succeed without any connection to 'The Huntsman'.
You have to admit, for any studio to do it would be pretty ballsy.
Read Mendelson's "Kristen Stewart As Lara Croft And More 'Tomb Raider' Thoughts" in it's entirety here.
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