Wait! Drop that apple! After multiple reshoots, numerous test screens, difficulties with the film’s lead stars and a budget that is rumored to total nearly $300 million, Disney is bent on releasing Snow White in theaters come hell or high water. This movie has been riddled with problems almost from the beginning. There could be a silver lining with all of this if Disney surprises us with a good movie, but at this late date, that seems rather doubtful.
Controversary surrounding producing another Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs film began long before the Disney company began making plans for a live action remake. After the success of the 1937 film, Walt himself made a mention about how he wasn’t interested in reusing his characters. Even when the studio toyed with the idea of creating the sequel Snow White Returns using unused footage from the original film, Walt canceled it. (However, the dwarfs did return for three war-time shorts.)
Many years later, DisneyToon Studios (who created many sequel films like Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World and Cinderella II: Dreams Come True) had planned for a computer-animated prequel movie simply titled, The Seven Dwarfs. But when Disney purchased Pixar and John Lasseter became the Chief Creative Officer, he cancelled the project.
Then in 2016, Walt Disney Pictures announced their plans to produce a new live action remake. At the time, live action remakes were still considered novel. Kenneth Branagh’s version of another princess movie, Cinderella, proved to be a big hit. And so, Erin Cressida Wilson was tapped for the movie’s screenwriter (later joined by Greta Gerwig) and Marc Webb was set for director.
The film became controversial as soon the casting announcements began. Gal Gadot received little backlash for being cast as the Evil Queen, but Rachel Zegler didn’t fare too well being cast as the fairest one of all. Being Colombian-American, this didn’t sit well with purists who pointed out that the main character in the German fairytale featured skin that was a white as snow.
Still, this might have been if only Zegler could have kept her opinions of the original cartoon to herself. You may remember her explaining how “dated” the movie was and how “weird” it was that Prince Charming “stalked” the princess. But that wasn’t enough. She also explained how her version of the princess would not be pining for a prince, but instead, would seek to become the leader that she was meant to be.
Those comments angered David Hand, a former Disney designer whose father had worked on the original feature film. He told The Telegraph, “I find it quite frankly a bit insulting [what] they may have done with some of these classic films. There’s no respect for what Disney did and what my dad did… I think Walt and he would be turning in their graves.”
Then there was the issue of the dwarfs. First, actor Peter Dinklage, who was born with a form of dwarfism, was outraged that Disney was working on a “backward story” that featured stereotypes of dwarfs. So, Disney responded by swapping them out with seven “magical beings” which were a mix of genders, ethnicities and heights. The Daily Mail called them, “the seven politically correct companions.” That angered people too. So, Disney brought back the dwarfs, only this time the characters would be CGI stereotypes of dwarfs. And then, no one was happy. Except for maybe CGI Happy.
On February 21, the studio released a two-minute “legacy featurette” that compared scenes from the original film to the new one. It also featured short interviews with Gadot and Zegler and this time, she was on her best behavior saying, “There’s so much from this animated movie that we have taken from and used in our own. A lot of it, with the designs of the costumes and the designs of the set pieces, it’s an absolutely beautiful homage to a film that continues to mean so much to people. Yeah. Disney magic.” She has also stated that her earlier comments received so much backlash from fans due to their passion for the 1937 classic.
Disney continues to promote this film both aggressively with a lot of TV commercials and new YouTube videos and yet they continue to tiptoe the elephant in the room. Earlier plans to promote the film with Zegler and Gadot were scrapped when rumors spread that the two starlets were not getting. However, the two appeared during this year’s Oscars to present an award together with the song “Someday My Prince Will Come” playing behind them. It was a tense moment. Neither of them even looked at each other which only spread more rumors. MovieWeb has also reported that Disney has “decided against rolling out the red carpet for its controversial adaptation” and canceled a London premiere.
Days later, Zegler performed the first single from the film, “Waiting on a Wish” in Tokyo alongside Sakura Kiryu, who provides the Japanese dubbing voice of Snow White. Zegler does have a beautiful voice and proved that she is a talented singer having appeared as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story update. And many people are interested in Gadot’s take on the queen, but is that enough to bring audiences in the movie theaters? With only two songs from the original movie included in the update, the rest of the music remains a mystery. And those dwarfs…
In February, Snow White had been projected to make $63 million to $70 million for its opening weekend, March 21-23, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, those numbers have dropped to $48 million and $58 million. Those numbers might not seem disastrous, but some Disney magic will be needed just to break even. It’s been said before, the story that built Disney could also be the studio’s undoing.
Main Image: Walt Disney Pictures
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