After years of speculation and controversy, we are now on the precipice of realization. Since 2023 the Disney Studio live-action remake of “Snow White” has been mired in negative publicity, much of it at the hands of the poisoned apple that is lead actress Rachel Zegler. Currently, we see that the production is following its own blueprint, as they enter into the final stage of the now-familiar four-step Disney Woke Cycle, 

This is the plotline seen from numerous past woke properties the studio put out where it wrestled with the public reaction to the decidedly activist content in their products. From “Obi-Wan” to “She-Hulk" and the signature disaster “The Acolyte," this was the tried method of dealing with the backlash.

1. Create a blatantly woke product

2. Preemptively respond to non-existent complaints

3. Experience low interest in the product

4. Lash out at the audience as being intolerant

We now see the production moving into Stage 4. After Disney decided to cut the red carpet event to be held in London one of the performers, Martin Klebba, who provides the voice for the animated Grumpy character, feels let down – by you. When asked about the preemptive moves made by the studio to blunt the negative PR he stated, “I was a little disappointed. I’m not disappointed in Disney. I’m disappointed in the world.” This is not a case of the stars creating a controversy, but it is our fault for reacting.

"Just because a couple of people have views that not everybody feels the same way, now we’re having to alter the fun part of making a movie, the premieres. “The world has come a long way. Whether you’re woke or not woke, God doesn’t make mistakes. Just be you and accepting. Accept everybody for who they are and the world would be a great place.”

There has been no shortage of negative press for this film, and how bad it has become was seen with that London decision. As Brandon Morse recently covered, Disney canceled its premiere, and while social conflict is cited it is clearly a move for financial reasons. The cloud over this production began to swirl early on, and it has never dissipated, only growing as time went on. Brandon explained part of this involving the star playing the titular character:

The reasons for this are several, and not just relegated to "anti-woke backlash." Lead actress Rachel Zegler spent an inordinate amount of time being absolutely insufferable about the film, which included insulting the original 1937 animated feature. Moreover, talk around the film shows that it is a modernized remake, which remakes the Snow White character into something a bit more cookie cutter for the current times. 

The trouble began when actor Peter Dinklage slammed the studio for portraying little people, like himself. This resulted in the recasting of The Seven Dwarves, as Disney went with a team of “magical” characters as a new direction. Dinklage essentially pulled up the ladder and denied work to actors of his ilk. But then the studio was rocked with ridicule as the new dwarves were seen as being a diversity hire cast of checkboxes.

Disney's live action remake of Snow White has replaced 7 dwarves with multi-racial, mixed-gender ‘magical creatures.’

Snow White is also no longer white and will be played by biracial actress Rachel Zegler.

Dwarves will no longer be used in the film and instead will be… pic.twitter.com/ABLOPsaO7h

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) July 15, 2023

In response, the studio scrapped this new iteration of dwarves and decided to go with CGI versions of the troupe. The result is a ghastly looking gathering of…dwarves. Dinklage had complained about the portrayal, and Disney comes around to then actually portraying the very thing he complained about, and Klebba is a little person who is now voicing, not portraying, the very same thing.

Apart from that, their lead actress then became the lightning rod of this production. In early interviews with Zegler, she displayed all of the traits of the entitled, overconfident theater kid. She denigrated the original film’s storyline, defiantly saying that her character would not be rescued by a man and that Prince Charming was basically a stalker. Then she became a political activist as well.

When the first trailer for the film was released Zegler promoted it on her social media and saw a need to include as a tagline “Free Palestine”. In following interviews she continued with her pro-Palestine lobbying. This has generated a rift between the two stars, as Gal Gadot is not only an avowed Israeli but she served with the IDF. The duo appeared at the recent Academy Awards and many viewers noted a frosty connection between the pair.

After abruptly canceling the London premier Disney had Zegler appear at a controlled debut in Spain, and Gadot was notably not in attendance. Now the Los Angeles premiere set for Saturday, March 15 is being trimmed down in size, with another telling move. It is reported Disney, sitting with a film desperately in need of favorable media exposure, will not be allowing the press to conduct red-carpet interviews. That indicates that the controversial discussions are believed to drown out the effusive coverage

Even up to this past November Zegler continued with her divisive comments, putting out vulgar posts about Donald Trump after the election – “May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace.” was just part of her tirade. It was only by then that the studio finally decided to rein in their vituperative actress…far too late. 

After years of production, numerous delays for recalibration and reshoots, as well as being stalled by the actors-writers strikes, the film topped off as a $270 million gamble that audiences are shunning. The trailer has been out for months and currently stands with a little over 56,000 LIKE votes, while the DISLIKE tally stands at well over 1.2 million.

Along with that, the fortunes of this release have been repeatedly scaled back. Early projections for the opening weekend box office have been continuously diminished. What was once looked at as a possible $80+ million debut was altered not only lower, but given a wildly imprecise range of between $52-71 million, and then somewhat narrowed to $63-70 million. Then this became revised lower yet again, with newer projections seeing it struggle with a still speculative range of $48-58 million.

This is dire for Disney. Based on the budget and the amount spent on promotions, the studio probably needs to clear at least $600 million globally to break even. The only real hope is that this manages to explode in international markets and compensate for the North American audiences. Otherwise, there will be enough red ink spilled to dye the carpets at the next six movie premieres.