With the first film making just under $400 million worldwide on its $170 million budget back in 2012, it’s still surprising to see that the Snow White and the Huntsman spawned another film. Serving as a spin-off/prequel of sorts, The Huntsman: Winter’s War is set to land on April 22nd, 2016 with an expected lower budget but also a different production behind it to some degree. With Rupert Sanders not back to direct nor Kristen Stewart involved, there’s a very different feel to what’s here and the cast list alone is going to make folks perk up with. Directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan as his first Hollywood directorial effort as he worked on the previous film as the visual effects artist for it, we’ve now got our first look at how everything is going to come across.
The cast includes Chris Hemsworth as Eric, the Huntsman, Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna, Emily Blunt as Freya, the Ice Queen, Jessica Chastain as “The Warrior”, Colin Morgan as the Duke of Blackwood, Sam Claflin as William, and Nick Frost as Nion.
Plot concept: Long before the evil Queen Ravenna was thought vanquished by Snow White’s blade, she watched silently as her sister, Freya, 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 and warrior Sara – 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.