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Why did Disney's new Snow White remake fail to live up to box office expectations? Was it because the dull trailer resembled an artificial intelligence project, or because actors Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot appeared to have chosen their outfits and makeup from Party City? Is it because the film symbolizes Hollywood's status as a place for recycling outdated ideas and rotting intellectual property? Or is it simply a movie no one wants about a princess who falls asleep?
The Snow White reboot debate has long been a source of controversy among various groups. Conservative critics have complained that Zegler, who is part Colombian, is not white (similar concerns arose a few years ago when black actress Halle Bailey was cast in Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid). Some have been outraged by Zegler’s comments about the 1937 classic. Actor Peter Dinklage questioned why the story was chosen in the first place. “You advance one aspect,” Dinklage said of Zegler’s casting, “but you still make this backwards story about seven dwarves living in a cave — what are you doing?”
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At some point, Disney began asking itself the same question. Despite a $270 million budget, the studio scaled back premieres and promotions, possibly postponing advance ticket sales. Snow White is currently facing a “review bombardment” on IMDb, with more than ninety-one percent of users giving it the lowest rating: one out of ten.
Recent articles in leading media outlets have blamed Zegler for the film’s failure. The Hollywood Reporter noted that the film “has been lambasted on social media for years for a combination of progressive creative decisions” — likely referring to Zegler’s casting — “and star Rachel Zegler’s controversial remarks.” In a Variety article that promised to take readers “Inside Disney’s ‘Snow White’ Fiasco,” a “top agent” chided the studio for allowing the 23-year-old actress to “control the narrative” by making a joke to a reporter about the characterization of the original film’s Prince Florian stalker. “The first time she lets out her tongue, you have to shut it down,” the agent said. (For the record, the new Snow White screenwriter, Erin Cressida Wilson, noted that she focused the character’s development on “discovering and trusting her own voice and purpose with compassion and strength.”)
Variety also highlighted a moment from August, shortly after the teaser was released, when Zegler thanked fans on X, adding in a separate post, “and always remember, a free Palestine.” The article implied that Zegler’s post led to death threats against her co-star Gadot, who is Israeli. It also reported that one of the film’s producers, Marc Platt, was so outraged by Zegler’s pro-Palestinian message that he flew to New York to personally warn her.
The Platt details seemed to raise eyebrows, but were later confirmed by his son Jonah, who wrote on Instagram: “Yes, my father, a producer of significant Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, had to leave his family to fly across the country and chastise his 20-year-old employee for injecting her personal politics into promoting a movie she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and promote. That’s called adult responsibility and accountability. And her actions clearly hurt the movie’s box office.” The younger Platt may also have been alluding to an Instagram post Zegler made after the November election, in which she railed against “the deep sickness in this country that manifests itself in the sheer number of people supporting this man who is threatening our democracy.” She concluded: “F**k Donald Trump.” Zegler later apologized for her comments about Trump, saying, “I let my emotions get the better of me.”
Placing the bulk of the blame for Snow White’s failure on Zegler — as many Hollywood insiders apparently try to do — almost distorts reality. The Walt Disney Company has a market cap of nearly $180 billion, and yet, according to Variety, the multinational conglomerate was unable to “overcome the backlash that had been brewing like a fairy-tale cauldron.” I’m no box office analyst, but for what it’s worth, my kids are exactly the target audience for Snow White, and I don’t think they were turned off by its star’s less-than-nuanced views on Prince Florian, Trump, or the Israel-Hamas conflict. (Open letter from film journalists criticizing Zegler’s coverage
Sourse: newyorker.com
