Of the many live-action Snow White projects that have been in the works, Disney’s was the most unique. It also was having a difficult time finding its identity. The movie began as Snow and the Seven, telling the story of an Englishwoman who runs off to mainland China in the 19th century and settles in with a band of international warriors after discovering her stepmother is evil. After that, Disney tried to minimize the Snow White elements by changing the name to Order of the Seven and planning to focus more on the warriors than the Englishwoman.

Now, for the time being, none of it really matters as Disney has decided to shut down development on the movie indefinitely. The company has had an up and down year, with John Carter losing them $200 million and The Avengers becoming one of the highest grossing movies of all time. But it’s the former that likely led to the decision to shut down the movie; it’s said that Disney is being very cautious with anything that could have a large budget.

The move will be a tough pill to swallow for many, as it had been in development for over a decade, had a star in Saoirse Ronan and a first-time director in Michael Gracey, and was getting ready to start production this summer. Faith in Gracey as a rookie may have also contributed to the decision.

Not too long ago Disney also shut down work on their adaptation of The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, but it didn’t take long to figure out some budget issues and get things moving again, so perhaps the same sequence of events will unfold for Order of the Seven.

[Source: Heat Vision]