Liu Haonan Dec 9, 2025

Photo from: https://hdqwalls.com/wallpaper/3840×2400/snow-white-movie-2025

It is hard to think of another family-friendly film that was introduced to the big screen with this much online baggage. For years before Disney’s live-action Snow White (2025) opened, the internet was already fighting from the casting, to the dwarfs and even politics, with many wondering if it’s ‘woke’ enough. When the film finally arrived, the numbers were brutal. According to box office data, the movie cost about US$269.4 million to make and earned only about US $205.7 million worldwide – roughly 0.8 times its budget.

I should be part of the core audience. I grew up on the 1937 cartoon, but I am not against remakes or diverse casting. After watching this version, I do not think it failed because “the internet hates anything progressive”. It failed because the story is thin, the visual choices are strange, and Disney’s PR turned one risky project into a culture-war symbol.

A fairytale that forgets to feel magical

The new film tries to fix the old one’s gender politics. In early interviews, the actress who played Snow White: Rachel Zegler called the 1937 Snow White“dated” and joked that the prince “literally stalks her”, promising that romance would not be the focus this time. Business Insider and other outlets picked up these quotes and framed the remake as a modern, more “empowered” take on the story.

Photo from:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6208148/?language=fr-ca

On paper, that sounds refreshing. In practice, the script hardly shows Snow White growing into the leader she keeps talking about. She makes speeches about being more than a love interest, but the scenes that should prove her courage or wisdom feel rushed and safe.

The romance is not replaced by a strong new emotional core. The prince played by Rachel Zegler is barely there, yet nothing meaningful takes his place. Moments that should shine with wonder, like running through the forest or meeting her companions, come and go without weight. Zegler’s singing is lovely, and a couple of new songs almost land, but they float on top of a story that does not trust quiet feelings. Everything important gets explained out loud.

For example, an original musical song “I WANT”composed by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and sung by Snow White (played by Rachel Zegler), this song is the moment when Snow White reflects on herself and sets her aspirations in the first half of the story. Standing against the backdrop of nature/forest, she sings out her inner longing to become a true princess and the kind of person her father once expected. Many times in the lyrics she wanted to become a “true self”, which is almost all about her inner struggle, ambition, confusion, and looking forward to singing out loud, clear, almost like a monologue.

From dwarfs to “magical creatures”

Then there are the dwarfs. After Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage called the original set-up “backwards” in an interview – proud of the Latina casting but angry about “still doing that f***ing dwarfs story” – Disney promised a new approach. In the finished film, most of the seven dwarfs become a mixed group of human-sized “magical companions”, many created with CGI.

This was meant to avoid old stereotypes. Instead, it manages to upset almost everyone. Some performers with dwarfism say they lost potential work because the roles were redesigned, a concern reported in pieces like a Forbes analysis of the dwarfs decision. At the same time, fans online mocked the CGI designs, which look more like cheap video-game characters than living beings.

The result is a strange half-step: the film keeps the idea of Snow White living with unusual friends, but it erases dwarf bodies from the frame in the name of inclusion. Representation becomes a visual problem for Disney to manage, not a chance to give real actors work.

The 1937 dwarfs are simple, yet each has a clear personality. Here, the companions blur together. Their designs and dialogue feel like committee decisions, not expressions of love for these characters.

Photo from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbf54DWCJHw

The Public Relations nightmare before and after release

If the film itself is weak, the PR around it is a mess. Box-office tracking once hoped for a US$50 million domestic opening. In reality, Snow White opened to about US$43 million in the U.S., with a global first weekend of around US$87 million. After that, it fell more than 60% in its second weekend. Deadline later reported that, even counting later income, the film is expected to lose more than US$100 million.

Meanwhile the online fight between Zegler’s view and Gal Gadot’s view never stopped. As Reuters and Business Insider both describe, Zegler, who acts as Snow White, and co-star Gal Gadot, who acts as the queen were pulled into political arguments over the Israel–Palestine conflict, while old clips of Zegler criticising Trump voters resurfaced and went viral. Right-wing commentators claimed Disney had gone too “woke”; progressive fans accused the studio of hiding Zegler during the press tour instead of standing by her.

YouTube filled up with angry thumbnails. One commentary video, “Calculating Snow White’s Colossal Box Office Failure”, calmly walks through the numbers and the marketing mistakes, but many other clips simply recycle outrage for clicks.

The culture-war noise also makes it easy for Disney to dodge deeper criticism. If you say the film looks bland or visually cheap, someone will answer, “You just hate diversity,” or “You are falling for right-wing talking points.” But the box office tells a different story. Many people of all politics simply chose not to buy a ticket, because the trailers did not look magical and the constant drama felt exhausting.

A poisoned apple of a remake

Snow White (2025) did not fail only because of trolls or “anti-woke” campaigns. It failed because Disney tried to please everyone at once. The studio wanted modern values without risking a new story, safe representation without trusting real bodies, and strong female leads without giving them messy, human feelings. In the end, the movie sits in an awkward middle: too self-serious to work as a light fairytale, too shallow to stand as a bold reimagining.

I still believe classic tales can be retold in smart, inclusive ways. This just is not one of them. Disney’s new Snow White is the poisoned apple of its live-action remakes: glossy, expensive, and strangely hollow. Viewers took one look, listened to the noise around it, and decided not to take a bite.

And as a filmmaker, I believe that neither my film nor my actors can make any judgment on the political situation at that time, even when the two characters in the play are exactly in opposition. We should act as mediators.

Photo from:https://www.tribunnewswiki.com/2025/01/06/film-snow-white-2025

References

Box Office. (2025). Snow White – Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt6208148/

Chmielewski, D., & Broadway, D. (2025, March 20). “Snow White” debuts in theaters, dogged by controversy. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/snow-white-debuts-theaters-dogged-by-controversy-2025-03-20/

Crosbie, E., & Adekaiyero, A. (2025, March 13). Disney’s “Snow White” live-action remake controversy, explained. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/snow-white-live-action-remake-controversy-explained

Faris, J. (2025, March 25). Disney’s “Snow White” flopping is deeper than anti-woke backlash. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-snow-white-opening-weekend-box-office-woke-backlash-controversy-2025-3

Shoard, C. (2022, January 25). Peter Dinklage criticises Disney for “backwards” remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Guardian; The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/jan/25/peter-dinklage-disney-remake-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs?utm_source=chatgpt.com

The Dave Cullen Show. (2025, June 10). Calculating Snow White’s Colossal Box Office Failure. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMkMTXt3dtg

The Numbers. (2025). Disney’s Snow White (2025) Theatrical Performance. The-Numbers.com. https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Disneys-Snow-White-%282025%29

Thompson, S. (2024, August 22). Did Disney Make The Right Decision About The 7 Dwarfs For “Snow White” Movie?. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/soniathompson/2024/08/22/did-disney-make-the-right-decision-about-the-dwarfs-for-snow-white-movie/