The dark path of Snow White and other failures

Problems with the live-action adaptation of the cult Disney cartoon Snow White they started back in 2021, when it was announced that the title character will be played by Rachel Zegler, a young star on the rise who caught the attention of moviegoers with Spielberg's remake of the famous musical West Side Story (and won the Golden Globe for the role of Maria). That initial controversy (which later turned into an "internet war") was caused by the fact that Snow White, whose skin (at least in the fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm) is "white as snow", will be portrayed by a dark-skinned actress (Rachel Zegler's mother is Colombian). The situation repeated itself in 2023, when the mermaid Ariel was in the game version Little mermaids played the dark-skinned Halle Bailey: "Disney" suffered criticism for such a decision, the controversy took on clear outlines of racism, but this did not prevent the heads of this studio from persisting in the case of "Snow White" in their original decision and assigning a role traditionally intended for a white woman to an actress of a darker complexion.

The problems were deepened by Rachel Zegler herself, who started making statements criticizing the original Snow White from 1937, and especially the character of the prince, whom she declared to be a pervert who kisses a sleeping girl against her will. She insisted that the original film was outdated and that it was time for a detailed reworking in which the main female character would become more active and in which Snow White would not depend on male help. Peter Dinklage also contributed to the controversy (Game of Thrones), an actor born with achondrolasia, which is the cause of his dwarfism, who criticized "Disney" because the roles of the seven dwarfs in the new film were not played by actors with dwarfism, but it was decided that those characters should be computer animated. It didn't help that Gal Gadot, an Israeli actress who is out of favor with the public because of the situation in Gaza, was chosen for the role of the Evil Queen. It all came together, built on one another, and led to a film that is now seen as the biggest flop of 2025.

The premiere Snow White was postponed several times, so that the film would arrive in the world's (and our) cinemas on March 21. And while the film is doing well in Serbia (in two weeks it was seen by slightly more than 25000 viewers), in the USA and the rest of the world the situation is not quite a fairy tale. Bearing in mind that the production of the film cost 250-270 million dollars (and according to some information, significantly more than that), the earnings so far of 170 million are not enough for the film to be considered a success (500 million is needed for the film to recover the invested money and make money). A large number of people, including those who have not seen the film, resented the lead actress and "Disney", so a (one would say) spontaneous action of giving a low rating on IMDb began, which led to Snow White the rating is currently record low, only 1,6 out of 10 (which was voted for by more than 300000 people, most of whom, we believe, did not even watch the film, but voted "out of spite"). Is it Snow White such a creative fiasco? Honestly - it's not. A rating of 4 or 5 out of 10 would certainly be more realistic and honest, with the exception that the younger generations, for whom this film is primarily intended, can see a film that they will really like, and maybe even be charmed by.

Snow White is in its essence an extremely routine achievement, a very simple setup. Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot are not the happiest chosen actresses: the former sings well, but her facial features are too rough, which does not suit the character she portrays, while the singing and acting possibilities of the Israeli actor are very, very limited. Director Mark Webb, famous for his indie love drama 500 days of summer (2009) and the Spider-Man diptych films with Andrew Garfield in the title role (2012, 2014), he has been in a creative crisis for a long time and Snow White it certainly didn't help him regain momentum. It's undeniably a lavish production, but all the money in the world, all the glittering costumes, rich scenery and sophisticated computer effects have failed to disguise the obvious: the new Snow White is fundamentally unnecessary, both creatively and (it turns out) commercially. Changes in the narrative change its essence (the prince is no longer there, but now there is a charming robber as Snow White's love interest, a character who seems forced into the story, Snow White becomes a rebel who fights for her kingdom, the death of the Evil Queen is more spectacular and elaborate, there are new characters and new songs, etc.), and all of this leaves the impression of a film that was born from the mere desire to cash in on the existing popularity of the classic on which it is based, and that everything it boils down to a simple calculation that, admittedly, went wrong.

Of course, it's all Hollywood: reworking of the existing, creative cannibalism and reliance on old glory... We already know very well how it all works. In last year's Evil se, with all the flaws of that film (and there are some!), you can still see some attempt to To the Wizard of Oz that a new reading, a dimension that did not exist before, one can even see courage. Snow White wants to achieve the same, except that screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson (wrote scripts for Secretary i The girl on the train) doesn't know how to put it into practice or, which is also very possible, she wasn't allowed to - on the script for the new Snow White multiple people worked on it, including Greta Gerwick, who remained unsigned, and there were reshoots and reshoots in an attempt to salvage what could be salvaged. But all in vain... The risk did not pay off. The calculation of the head of "Disney" was wrong because most of the viewers were not ready for a "Latino Snow White", at least not in a film that claims to be a feature remake of the 1937 classic. Snow White became the subject of ridicule, and the blame was placed on Rachel Zegler (who was presented as the "worm" that ate the "apple"), as her statements caused the greatest public outrage. But the problem is more fundamental, deeper, because the young actress did not choose herself to act in the film. Fish, as usual, stinks from the head. New Snow White it desperately tries to sit on two chairs: to remain faithful to the original (which fails), and to be modern and fresh at the same time (which also fails)... At the end of the ballad, we got a film that essentially no one needs: neither the audience, nor the studio that produced it, nor the film workers in front of and behind the camera. Some stories are not meant to have a happy ending.