7. Snow White and the Huntsman
After the woefully inept Mirror Mirror hit cinemas in the spring, the path had been cleared for Snow White and the Huntsman to clean up as the definitive Snow White property of 2012, starring Kristen Stewart as the titular femme, while Thor himself, Chris Hemworth, stars as the Huntsman, and Charlize Theron appears as the evil Queen. Though many initially expected Rupert Sanders' take on the Snow White mythos to essentially be a Twilight-ified version given the casting of Stewart, the dark, technically accomplished result probably had more in common with The Dark Knight than Twilight. With its (mostly) serious tone, strong performances and grand visuals, this was everything the tale had to be to succeed, far surpassing expectations that it would be another vapid, silly Snow White film. A lot of the success is attributable to Theron, who hams up the Queen role sufficiently, even if it's then ridiculous to buy that she's not as "fair" as Kristen Stewart. Also the decision to have the Dwarves be played by famous actors (such as Nick Frost and Eddie Marsan) whose likenesses have been super-imposed by way of CGI was a hugely inspired choice. Overall, the film was a blast, and a world I would be glad to spend more time in.