The Darker Side of the Story ‘Snow White and the Huntsman,’ With Kristen Stewart 
 
 I’m not sure this counts as a spoiler of anything other than Universal’s sleek and seductive marketing campaign — which has properly emphasized crows, swords and Charlize Theron ’s hair — but there are actually some dwarfs in the new movie “Snow White and the Huntsman.” The small fellows who befriend the exiled princess here are nothing like the grumpy, sneezy, dopey guys you remember from the Disney version. The actors who play them (including Ian McShane, Eddie Marsan, Ray Winstone and the great Bob Hoskins, all digitally shrunken) might otherwise have been assembled for a nasty little Cockney gangster film . These dwarfs are industrious, but they don’t whistle while they work. Their most memorable song is a haunting dirge performed at the funeral pyre of a fallen comrade. So take note: There is nothing cute about this movie. 
 
 And that feels right. There is something exciting about how seriously “Snow White and the Huntsman” takes its themes. Most of the fairy tales that have become fixtures of modern popular culture — including those, like “Snow White,” published by the Brothers Grimm in the early 19th century — emerged from the dark, violent folk landscape of early modern Europe. They are fables of innocence, but also of terror, dense with superstition and sexual anxiety. Walt Disney’s justly beloved 1937 animated feature, though it has some spooky, gothic visual touches, expelled most of the demons and turned the heroine into an emblem of chaste and cheerful domestic normalcy. Since then, Hollywood fairy tales have mainly tacked between wide-eyed romanticism and winking self-consciousness. 
 
 “Snow White and the Huntsman,” directed by the first-timer Rupert Sanders from a script by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini, tries something new. Or maybe something old, even atavistic. Though it is an ambitious — at times mesmerizing — application of the latest cinematic technology, the movie tries to recapture some of the menace of the stories that used to be told to scare children rather than console them. Its mythic-medieval landscapes are heavily shadowed and austere, and its flights of magic are summoned from a zone of barely suppressed rage and dangerous power. 
 
 Most of the power and nearly all of the rage belong to Ravenna, Ms. Theron’s golden-haired, furious queen. Having murdered the king on their wedding night and imprisoned his daughter in a tower, Ravenna preens in front of her liquid-metal mirror, plucks the hearts out of birds (with metal fingernail extensions apparently designed for that purpose) and terrorizes her subjects. She is loyally attended by her creepy brother, Finn (Sam Spruell) — a kind of Dorian Gray portrait of his flawless sister, the ugliness of whose soul seems inscribed on his leering, pitted face — but otherwise alone in the castle of her cruelty. 
 
 The evil stepmothers of the past have been monsters of self-generating female narcissism, but Ravenna seems to be a woman with a legitimate grudge against a male-dominated world of sexual violence and patriarchal entitlement. With a slight shift of emphasis, “Snow White and the Huntsman” might have been her story, the tale of a victim turned righteous avenger. And it may be that being denied this status fuels Ravenna’s resentment. Her wrath is directed principally at other women: at the girls whose youth and beauty she steals to feed the spell that keeps her from aging, and at the blameless princess who threatens her simply by being young and alive. 
 
 That would be Snow White, of course, played by Kristen Stewart at the precise point of intersection between action heroine and damsel in distress. Since Ms. Stewart has become, thanks to “Twilight,” the very embodiment of romantic indecision, there are two possible suitors chivalrously circling her. Or two unshaven dudes, at any rate, vying to protect her and dividing the audience into Team Handsome Prince and Team Huntsman. 
 
 The “prince” is William (Sam Claflin), a childhood friend of Snow’s and the son of a nobleman who has remained loyal to the memory of her father. He is a gifted archer and a dashing enough young man, but there really is no contest. The movie is not called “Snow White and William.” The Huntsman, a hard-drinking, belligerent widower with no other name, has the advantage of being played by Chris Hemsworth — Thor! — with sly, gruff magnetism. 
 
 After an overwrought beginning — during which drops of blood fall to the snow with a crash, and James Newton Howard’s score roars and howls like Wagner with a stubbed toe — the movie comes down to earth and springs to life when Mr. Hemsworth shows up. His huntsman, like the dwarfs, is a gruff human presence in a world that might otherwise have been too airily and abstractly fantastical. 
 
 In turn, the roughness of those characters, along with the scratchy earth tones of Greig Fraser’s cinematography, make possible episodes of enchantment that feel fresh even to eyes that have seen everything under the digital sun. A terrifying slog through the dark forest, a serene sojourn in the garden of the fairies, a visit to an encampment of women and children — each of these scenes casts its own specific and effective spell. 
 
 In this carefully imagined reality — the production designer, Dominic Watkins, has done exceptional work — Ms. Theron is, if not the fairest, then surely the most striking one of all. She has a remarkable ability to mix coldness and sorrow, and as the special effects etch lines on her face and then smooth them away, she at once invites and refuses sympathy. Ravenna, taught as a girl that beauty was the source of power, has made herself into a perfect aesthetic object and destroyed herself in the process. Snow White, rather than try to beat her in the contest of appearances, must create a new game, based on a different meaning of “fairness” and on her own modest, real-girl appeal. 
 
 Ms. Stewart, stumbling through the forest and racing through an awkward, Shakespeare-lite speech to her hastily mustered good-guy army, understands the job perfectly and undertakes it in good faith. Her Snow White is part of an interesting new breed of warrior princesses — Katniss Everdeen is their current leader — whose ascendance reflects the convergence of commercial calculations and cultural longings. Long may they reign. 
 
 “Snow White and the Huntsman” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Blood, monsters and whispers of sexual implication. 
 
 Snow White and the Huntsman 
 
 Opens on Friday nationwide. 
 
 Directed by Rupert Sanders; written by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini, based on a story by Mr. Daugherty; director of photography, Greig Fraser; edited by Conrad Buff and Neil Smith; music by James Newton Howard; production design by Dominic Watkins; costumes by Colleen Atwood; produced by Joe Roth and Sam Mercer; released by Universal Pictures. Running time: 2 hours 6 minutes. 
 
 WITH: Kristen Stewart (Snow White), Charlize Theron (Ravenna), Chris Hemsworth (the Huntsman), Sam Claflin (William), Sam Spruell (Finn), Ian McShane (Beith), Bob Hoskins (Muir), Eddie Marsan (Duir), Ray Winstone (Gort), Nick Frost (Nion) and Toby Jones (Coll). ||||| The Universal event pic is the first of the recent fairy tale retellings to win at the box office; Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" opens overseas to stellar $35 million from only 15 markets, nearly matching the $39.3 million grossed by "Snow White" from 45 territories. 
 
 Universal's Snow White and the Huntsman has succeeded in winning over moviegoers, topping the domestic box office with a better-than-expected $56.3 million and opening to $95.6 million worldwide. 
 
 Sony's Men in Black 3 won the weekend overseas, however, grossing a strong $79.1 million in its sophomore session for a worldwide total of $387.7 million and international cume of $275.4 million. Domestically, the pic placed No. 2 with a pleasing $29.3 million for a 10 day cume of $112.3 million. 
 
 MIB3's impressive global hold is, at least in part, a testament to Smith's continuing star status, as well as good word of mouth. 
 
 Snow White -- starring Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth -- debuted to a solid but not spectacular $39.3 million internationally from 45 markets, and it will need svelte legs both at home and abroad to make back its $170 million production budget and hefty marketing spend. It has yet to a debut in a number of key foreign territories, including Russia and Australia. 
 
 The film's undeniable domestic strength is a needed win for Universal after box-office stumbles Battleship and The Five-Year Engagement. It's also the first of the recent fairy tale retellings to strike a chord with moviegoers, and a sequel is already in active development. 
 
 "From the get-go, the filmmakers, the cast and the studio conveyed how very unique this movie was and that its appeal would go beyond the usual Snow White audience," Universal president of domestic distribution Nikki Rocco said. 
 
 Snow White was directed by Rupert Sanders and produced by Joe Roth. 
 
 PHOTOS: 'Snow White and the Huntsman' Starring Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth 
 
 It wasn't the only new Hollywood event pic making headlines. Opening in 15 markets overseas a week ahead of its June 8 domestic debut, Ridley Scott's 3D sci-fi spectacle Prometheus grossed a stellar $35 million for 20th Century Fox. 
 
 Prometheus -- also starring Theron, as well as Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender -- handily beat Snow White in the U.K. ($10 million versus $5 million), the only market where the two movies went up against each other. The top territory for Prometheus was Russia with $11.1 million. 
 
 Prometheus is performing especially well for an R-rated pic (in the U.K., it has the equivalent of a 15 rating). 
 
 Snow White opened higher overseas than The Hunger Games ($38.7 million) and the first Twilight ($30 million). Snow White opened No. 1 in 30 of the markets and generated strong returns in Latin America and Asia, including placing No. 1 in Mexico with $4.4 million. The U.K. was the film's highest-grossing market. 
 
 VIDEO: 'Snow White and the Huntsman': Colleen Atwood on Creating the Fairy Tale Costumes 
 
 Universal's marketing operation is being praised by rival studios for succeeding in piquing the interest of males on the eve of Snow White's opening. The action-packed film needed both sexes to succeed and was never designed to appeal only to femmes. Exit polling revealed that females made up 53 percent of the opening weekend audience in North America, while males made up 47 percent. 
 
 Snow White did skew older, with 56 percent of the audience over the age of 25 and 52 percent over the age of 30. The film's B CinemaScore didn't appear to slow down the film, which was up on Saturday. 
 
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 The weekend's other new wide entry was Arc Entertainment's historic epic For Greater Glory. The Andy Garcia-Eva Longoria starrer placed 10th with an estimated $1.8 million from 757 theaters. 
 
 At the specialty box office, Fox Searchlight's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Focus Features' Moonrise Kingdom both continued to turn in strong performances, along with French blockbuster comedy The Intouchables, distributed by the Weinstein Co. 
 
 The new offering at the specialty box office was Dimension Films' Piranha 3DD, which the Weinstein Co. released under its Radius TWC banner, meaning the pic opened simultaneously in theaters and on premium VOD. The Weinstein Co. had muted theatrical expectations for the film, which grossed $179,000 from 86 theaters for a location average of $7,004. Early numbers suggest it is doing good business on VOD. 
 
 Exotic Marigold Hotel grossed $4.6 million domestically from 1,294 theaters for a cume of $25.5 million. The feel-good pic, which has earned north of $107 million worldwide, placed No. 6 domestically. 
 
 In its second weekend, Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom grossed $848,681 from 16 theaters for an impressive per-location average of $53,043 and cume of $1.7 million. 
 
 Intouchables grossed $350,186 from 50 theaters in its second outing for a location average of $7,004 and cume of $516,798.
– Snow White and the Huntsman, the latest take on the fairy tale starring Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron, is an impressive spectacle, featuring all kinds of brooding visual effects. But critics are sharply divided as to whether the film is an overall success: "There is nothing cute about this movie. And that feels right. There is something exciting about how seriously Snow White and the Huntsman takes its themes," writes AO Scott in the New York Times. The movie is "an absolute wonder to watch and creates a warrior princess for the ages," writes Betsy Sharkey in the Los Angeles Times. "But what this revisionist fairy tale does not give us is a passionate love—its kisses are as chaste as the snow is white." But at Slate, Dana Stevens calls the film "increasingly incoherent" and feels like it "squanders the dramatic potential inherent in the ancient fairy tale" by keeping Snow White and the queen separate for all but two scenes. "As Snow, Stewart gets to swing a sword, but don't be fooled," notes Rafer Guzman in Newsday. "She spends so much time waffling sullenly between two warrior-suitors that Snow White feels like little more than Twilight in chain mail."