'THE HUNTSMAN' NEW CHARACTER POSTERS RELEASED WITH NEW TITLE BUT HUNTSMAN MISSES SPOTLIGHT AS FANS QUESTION PREQUEL CLAIM

Universal

Universal Pictures revealed the new title, plot and character posters for 'The Huntsman' now known as The Huntsman Winter's War.

It appears that Universal may have to combat some trolling references to Frozen and Captain America: The Winter Soldier being tossed around due to Chris Hemsworth's Marvel connection and Emily Blunts movie poster (below) which appear to give a wink and a nod in name and appearance to the successful Disney films.

More after the break


But that is a minor issue as compared to hearing the gasps of unhappiness of Hemsworth fans when looking at the film's Facebook page and today's headlines.

Hemsworth is the 'Where's Waldo' of his own film.

'The Huntsman' Facebook cover prominently features the three main female characters: The Warrior played by Jessica Chastain, Charlize Theron who is reprising her role from Snow White and the Huntsman as The Evil Queen Ravenna and Blunt as The Ice Queen (ergo the nod to Frozen) with Hemsworth's huntsman tossed at the end.

Headlines like "Meet The Badass Women of The Huntsman Winters War" and "See Charlize Theron, Jessica Chastain in new The Huntsman: Winter’s War character posters" are very confusing since the story is supposed to star Chris Hemsworth -- the ten million dollar [hunts]man. It's like Johnny Depp being second fiddle to Dakota Johnson in the Black Mass promotional release when the film is all about his character. 

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The new posters have the feel and tenor of the original film. They look amazing but with more sex appeal especially with the Theron and Chastain posters which go directly toward more male urges with plunging necklines.

But let's not beat around the bush. It has been speculated that the women are being featured because Queen Snow White, who was the warrior of the original film and behind the selling of the film, is now gone and the new female characters are in the forefront to makeup for the "strong female role" she fulfilled.

Promotion of the film showing "strong female characters" may be patronizing to some with what they consider to be the wanton omission of Snow White in order to pursue a[nother] male-centric franchise as envisioned by former Universal COO Ron Meyer prior to the opening of SWATH:


"'Meyer said that, although the initial story of Snow White and the Huntsman doesn’t lend itself to a sequel, Universal is prepared to build future movies around Chris Hemsworth’s Huntsman character if the movie proves successful.'" (Collider: April 2012) 

And successful it was...bye, bye Snow White.

With that aside, the posters are breathtaking.  However, the plot is raising questions.

The plot is receiving a few raised eyebrows because it is drawing questions if this film is actually a prequel. 

The Plot:


      Long before the evil Queen Ravenna (Theron) was thought vanquished by Snow White’s blade, she watched silently as her sister, Freya (Blunt), suffered a heartbreaking betrayal and fled their kingdom. With Freya’s ability to freeze any enemy, the young ice queen has spent decades in a remote wintry palace raising a legion of deadly huntsmen—including Eric (Hemsworth) and warrior Sara (Chastain)—only to find that her prized two defied her one demand: Forever harden your hearts to love. When Freya learns of her sister’s demise, she summons her remaining soldiers to bring the Magic Mirror home to the only sorceress left who can harness its power. But once she discovers Ravenna can be resurrected from its golden depths, the wicked sisters threaten this enchanted land with twice the darkest force it’s ever seen. Now, their amassing army shall prove undefeatable…unless the banished huntsmen who broke their queen’s cardinal rule can fight their way back to one another.


The question being asked is: If Ravenna dies in SWATH at the hands of Snow White, how is she being resurrected in The Huntsman when she is supposed to be alive?

As the story is understood, Ravenna has the ability to come back to life. She maintains her youthful looks by stealing the beauty of young maidens. Therefore, Ravenna has to die in order for anyone to discover that she has the ability to return to life which has to take place before Snow White. This enables Finn (her brother) to speak about her resurrection abilities in SWATH. Unless time is moved forward, The Huntsman is a true prequel.

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Returning to direct is former SWATH Visual Effects Supervisor Cedric Nicholas-Troyan along with composer James Newton Howard and producers Joe Roth and Palak Patel.  

Also reprising their roles are Sam Claflin as Prince William and Nick Frost as Nion who is the only returning original dwarf.

The film is bound to hit all of the visual queues and feel of the original film.  The plot is interesting and the promotional posters are astounding. But fans will have to wait until April 22, 2016 to see how it all pans out. 

Follow the official Facebook and Twitter.  However, if you followed SWATH before, you are already there.

Check out more promotional posters below.

Sources:
Huntsman Facebook/1/2