Hollywood has form when it comes to completely unnecessary sequels. There have been four movies based on The Crow, another quartet based on Terminator and five Highlander flicks (producers of the latter presumably remaining steadfast in the face of protestations from right-minded cineastes everywhere that there should “be only one”. Sorry.) But it’s hard to imagine there’s a cinematic follow-up more pointless than the forthcoming prequel to Snow White and the Huntsman, the ingeniously titled The Huntsman.

Naysayers will surely point to the likes of S. Darko, a sequel to Richard Kelly’s beguiling cult tale in which the younger sister of Jake Gyllenhaal’s psychologically challenged teen hero Donnie Darko goes on her own time-travelling road trip. And there’s also American Psycho 2, in which a pre-fame Mila Kunis plays a killer student inspired by her youthful brush with the original’s Patrick Bateman (conspicuously not played by Christian Bale). But these are cheap, direct-to-DVD affairs: The Huntsman is a full-blown $100m-plus Hollywood tentpole starring Thor’s Chris Hemsworth in the title role, though not Kristen Stewart – making this a Snow White movie without an actual Snow White in it.

Producers appear to have picked the prequel route – the film will also feature Charlize Theron returning as evil queen Ravenna – due to the negative publicity surrounding Stewart and married director Rupert Sanders’s affair during the shoot for the original movie. Quite why a young actor should be punished for what ought surely to have remained a private matter is a moot point, but studio Universal seems to have forgotten something: without the involvement of a post-Twilight Stewart, Snow White and the Huntsman would never have got close to its $396m global box-office take. And those kind of impressive figures are the only reason anyone is making another film in the first place.

It seems that Hollywood has finally sunk to the level of fan fiction, a medium in which even the most minor characters can be fleshed out and given their own adventures by devoted acolytes, in its determination to rack up the greenbacks. The Huntsman hails from the same Cinema of Tenuous Connection milieu that has inspired Sony to propose an entire “cinematic universe” surrounding Ghostbusters. It seems likely that producers also noted the financial success of Maleficent, which became one of last year’s biggest box-office hits by casting Angelina Jolie as the titular villain in the utterly prosaic, frequently poorly-acted story of how she became so mean in the first place.

There’s a fair bit of talent being thrown at The Huntsman, with Frank Darabont of Green Mile and The Walking Dead notoriety writing the screenplay and Jessica Chastain and Emily Blunt cast in supporting roles. And this week, Universal revealed that much-loved Brits Rob Brydon and Sheridan Smith will play two of the dwarves, with The Iron Lady’s Alexandra Roach portraying another.

What exactly they are all doing in the movie, or why there are now lady dwarves about, when the eight from the first film were male, is not explained. Perhaps these are different dwarves. Anyway, it matters not. Nobody cared to learn about their dwarfy back story in the first place, any more than anyone ever sat pondering what The Huntsman and Ravenna got up to before Stewart’s Snow White came on the scene.

Charlize Theron’s character will get more of a backstory in The Huntsman, whether we’re interested or not. Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

Theron and Hemsworth did a decent enough job in the first film, though the Australian’s Scottish accent is straight out of the Russell Crowe Guidebook to Brogues of the British Isles. But Ravenna’s Countess of Bathory-like back story hardly seems appropriate material for a tale of the queen’s early travails. Nor does The Huntsman’s history as a drunkard and widower seem worth mining for prequel gold.

The sad thing is that there is wonderful fairytale-inspired material coming out of Hollywood right now. Last year’s Into the Woods populated a spiky Brothers Grimm-inspired fantasy world with beautifully drawn characters who have to make real-life, grown-up decisions. Disney’s Frozen managed to singlehandedly undercut decades of celluloid patriarchy with the simple fable of two princesses who are, miraculously, not entirely reliant upon handsome suitors for inspiration and a sense of self worth.

Both films gave us something fresh: Into the Woods by creating an entirely new framework within which to revive well-worn stories such as Rapunzel, Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk; Frozen by turning Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen folk tale upside down and adding awesome showtunes. Perhaps the new Snow White film will somehow deliver an equally thrilling story from the void of creativity that appears to be its premise, but my money’s on The Huntsman’s producers missing their mark.