Snow White, the most recent addition to Disney’s live action remakes, has recently had mixed reactions from both critics and moviegoers all over the world. While some viewers love the creative take on the story, others strongly dislike the animation, actors, and the apparent “wokeness” of the film. Not only that, but this movie has also managed 1.6/10 rating on IMBd, 40% Rotten Tomatoes, and a 50/100 on the Metacritic scale. This movie is being considered as one of Disney’s biggest flops to date.
First, let’s talk about the money involved with this film. This film was created with an estimated budget of $250,000,000 and predicted to make $85 million in its opening weekend. That sadly was not the case. The movie instead made $43 million in its opening weekend. This alone makes it one of Disney’s worst performing live-action movies to date right after Dumbo, which opened with $46 million in its first weekend. Not to mention, the Minecraft movie is performing way better than Snow White, was also released a week after and is already hitting a bigger box office. This also creates concern about future live action films created by Disney, especially since other studios are releasing better movies that receive bigger profits and ratings.
The second reason this movie was considered a flop is due to the animation and computer-generated imagery (CGI) that was used. One such example has to be the seven drawfs that help Snow White on her adventures. Lexy C, a Wharton student who watched the movie, says “I didn’t like their use of CGI” and said it was “It was the most mediocre movie ever.” The movie is going down in history as one of Disney’s biggest flops.
One of the biggest reasons this movie is considered a flop is due to the controversy surrounding the lead actor Rachel Zegler. Fans believe that Zegler is a talented actor. as seen in the movie The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but there’s been issues regarding her playing Snow White in the live action movie.
One of these issues comes from the dubbed ‘wokeness’ approach’ that Disney has done in their recent movies. This all started with when they started back in 2017 when they made LeFou, Gaston’s friend in Beauty and the Beast, gay in the live action remake. Later, in 2023 with the live action Little Mermaid, they casted Arial with an African movie playing the role. And now, they casted Zegler who is of Colombian and Polish descent, which angered viewers because Snow White is seen as a predominately ‘white’ role.
The second issue comes from the Zegler becoming involved in politics and her outspoken views on the Israel-Hamas wars and the 2024 presidential election. It’s gotten to the point that critics point to Zegler when asked why the movie is a failure.