Snow Whitemay be the latest in a long line ofDisneylive-action remakes, but the House of Mouse isn’t exactly giving the new film the royal treatment. In stark contrast to how they usually go all out for film premieres, the entertainment giant is actually scaling down the festivities surrounding their newest adaptation.
Disneyhas been making beaucoup bucks on live-action remakes of their animation classics for years now. Though the entertainment conglomerate hasgone crazy with these adaptationsin the past fifteen years, this tendency began all the way back in the mid-’90s with 1994’sThe Jungle Bookand 1996’s101Dalmatians… two films that have since had further big-budget reimaginings in 2016’sThe Jungle Bookand 2021’sCruella. Since 2010’sAlice in Wonderlandbrought in over a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, Disney has been mining their history for every animated film they can find to re-adapt and make more money.Snow Whiteis simply the latest in a long-running trend.
According to a new report fromVariety, Disney is scaling back on their usual pomp and circumstance surrounding the premiere ofSnow Whitelater this week: “…the red carpet will not include the dozens of media outlets usually invited by Disney to interview the cast and creatives at its premieres. Instead, coverage will be limited to photographers and a house crew.” It’s not as ifSnow Whiteisn’t a blockbuster worthy of such attention. If anything, the film—which cost upwards of $250 million to produce—has been worthy of non-stop news coverage and that just might be why Disney is refusing to bring more press on board for the debut.
Snow White Has Been A Controversy Magnet
How Many Poison Apples Can One Project Handle?
Where to begin? When it was announced Rachel Zegler was cast in the titular role, a vocal minority of toxicDisney fans decried the castingbecause Zegler is of Colombian descent. Nevermind that such a thing shouldn’t matter in the slightest, Zegler was coming off an award-worthy performance as María in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 adaptation ofWest Side Story. If anyone was ever able to headline a big-budget musical, it’s Zegler. Then there werePeter Dinklage’s disparaging commentsabout the project as a whole, Disney’s response to said comments, and further reaction to the entire thing from other actors with dwarfism as well. Ultimately, the film’s creative team decided to go with CGI characters created to look like those from the 1937 original.
Then, at the 2022 D23 Expo—a fan club event that Disney hosts every two years—Zegler made some choice comments on how the 1937 original was dated and that the creative team behind the new film was working to update it. “The original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so,” Zegler stated. “There’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! Weird. So we didn’t do that this time… it’s really not about her love story at all, which is really, really wonderful.” Some people who seem oddly concerned about Disney projects online complained that the House of Mouse was going to make a “feminist” version of Snow White.
Most controversial of all has been Gal Gadot and Rachel Zegler’s views on the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Gadot is Israeli, served in the Israel Defense Forces for two years, and has become a lightning rod of controversy because of it. Zegler has been a vocal supporter of Palestine for a while now and some of her anti-Trump rhetoric has earned the ire of his supporters. Not ideal if you want to put a microphone in front of these two to support a family-friendly movie.
If there is one company who does everything within their power to sidestep controversy at each and every turn, it isDisney. Instead, here they are with a film that has caused them nothing but headaches for years.Zegler has done her best to tame the controversyin recent weeks, but it’s hard putting that particular genie back in the bottle.
