Snow White (Live-Action)

[Thumper_93]

What a shame for them to make such a flop. They had one of the most beloved movie of all time to take as reference and they couldn't make some justice to it. Honestly I don't know where it went all the budget because I re watched the film last week and it looks really bad.

[PatchofBlue]

If reports are to be believed, effectively having to make the movie twice over with all their reshoots would have significantly inflated their budget. Measure twice, cut once. Listen to Disney fans the first time, and don't lose nearly $200 M at the bank.

But I will always kind of resent journalists going after Zegler because of her social media activism, in part because I really don't think it had anything to do with this movie flopping. There are circumstances where I could imagine that kind of performance having direct impact on a movie's performance. I don't think this was one of them. And trying to drop a red herring into the pond like that just distracts from both Disney's mismanagement of the brand as well as the racially-motivated bullying that Zegler endured.

[Disney's Divinity]

We knew it would blow its budget long before it got to release. The Walt-era properties have limited potential as remakes already (the best it could've expected was Cinderella-level, and Cinderella did half of most of the other remakes as it was), and then they decided to racebend the title character named for white skin... And then the rumors of cutting the Dwarfs. The backlash was huge, so they tried to reverse course, to the point this film was quite a quandary in the end. The finished product was actually much better than I expected, but the perception around the film had been poisoned beyond repair. The only real thing fullblown unfaithful--as far as being "unfair" in being cut (I think making SW have a larger role in the climax was a good thing)--in the final product were the cuts of several songs. So, no, I don't think Zegler had anything to do with the film's performance--although I do wonder if she might be to blame for those songs' absence.

As for the criticism of the racebend itself, some of it was racist, but in general Zegler herself was unlikable all by herself without being the face of the racebend that took the brunt of the backlash. And I don't think she was disliked because of her race, just because of her personality. I mean, her way of expressing her opinions was off-putting, but the fact that she randomly caused friction for Gadot, who had done nothing to her, and sicced her own little mob of far left crazies on her was pretty disgusting, let's be real. She isn't a great person in my book.

All that said, this is the version of SW I'll return to the most often actually (well, unless we're counting OUAT). I was watching it again randomly just a few days ago. Tale of Terror is my next favorite, but it's not something I could watch frequently. I really only pull out the animated film or SW&tH to watch some scenes (the opening and ending of Walt's film and Theron's scenes in the other), skipping around large bits of them.

[Sotiris]

Zegler is addressing the Snow White backlash again in a new interview.

“I refuse to assimilate for anybody else’s comfort”: Rachel Zegler is staying true to herself
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/cultur ... el-zegler/

[PatchofBlue]

I generally accept her response to the "Snow White" firestorm, and there are even parts that I admire, but it does make me groan to again see journalists painting such broad strokes in describing the backlash. Blithely referring to "die hard Disney fans" and "outdated portrayals." It's more or less what I'd expected, though, and it's part of the reason why I tried hard to push other Disney fans to not join in on the bandwagon. No one was going to ask whether we had any legitimate reason to be upset at being patronized yet again. It was always just going to be "look at those fragile Disney adults who just can't take honest criticism and leave devastation in their wake," and we would have been better just to not step into all that.

This whole situation was just one big mess where no one won.

[Disney's Divinity]

I felt like I won... I ended up being one of the few who liked the finished film and also the fact it flopped meant Disney simultaneously got the lesson about race and genderbending / song cuts / severe changes--even the appearance of going that direction--leading to destruction at the box office for their remakes. Pretty similar situation with TLM actually. The backlash made them work harder than they would have so the finished product was better than it had been on track to be, but the film ultimately flopping helped cement the fact for Disney that audiences want their remakes faithful for the most part. Win, win for me personally.

[Disney Duster]

So Divinity, you had said before you think there are “perfect” versions of Cinderella (1950 and Ever After), and I am assuming of The Little Mermaid (1989), but you didn’t think there was a perfect Snow White yet? Do you think the 2025 one was finally a perfect one?

[Disney's Divinity]

Well, I wouldn't say perfect, but the one I watch the most so far for me. Gal Gadot isn't my favorite iteration of the Queen (Theron and Weaver are better), but I do like her a lot, even if at times she plays it more campy than straight. I don't really like SW herself that much in any version, although the actors are fine aside from Kristen Stewart. I guess the animated character and the Tale of Terror character are alright, they just feel sparse. I love this version having the Queen be responsible for the King's death and that it gave SW a little more to do in the climax without her weilding a sword or fighting, which just wouldn't have been believable. The film's not visually sumptuous like Mirror, Mirror, but I liked the look of the film for the most part--always thought SW&tH was an eyesore. Hemsworth is probably my favorite love interest in a SW film though (although I like the animated Prince, Armie Hammer in Mirror, Mirror, the Tale of Terror characters, too), unfortunately he's saddled with the dreadful Kristen Stewart. The thief here is fine. And naturally I think having good songs on top of everything always elevates things.

So I guess the film wins for me simply because it puts the most pieces I prefer for this story together in the same movie, even if it's probably never the best at any one thing. Tale of Terror is the only other version I'm inclined to watch outside of a random desire to see the animated film every few years, and even ToT I don't watch that often because it's so far horror and they do so little with the second half that it's a very particular, cold experience that I have to be in the right mood to watch. Only things I really wanted in the 2025 film were "One Song/I'm Wishing" and "SDMPWC" (ideally playing in the background as Jonathan is breaking out of the dungeon and coming to her, since the song's about hope and his hope in her is part of the reason he doesn't give up either), and they could've given Jonathan the animated prince's outfit at the very end of the film after the Queen's death. Antway, there are enough versions now that I could do a ranking of the different aspects like the Cinderella thread, actually.

Snow White
1. 1937 animated film
2. OUAT (Ginnifer Goodwin)
3. Snow White (2025)
4. Tale of Terror
5. Mirror, Mirror
6. SW&tH

The Queen
1. Tale of Terror (Sigourney Weaver)
2. OUAT (Lana Parilla)
3. SW&tH (Charlize Theron)
4. Snow White (Gal Gadot)
5. 1937 animated film
6. Mirror, Mirror

The Prince (or Love Interest)
1. SW&tH (Chris Hemsworth)
2. 1937 animated film
3. Mirror, Mirror (Armie Hammer)
4. Tale of Terror
5. Snow White (2025 film)
6. OUAT
Funny enough, this is the only ranking where I liked them all, actually. Just funny because the Prince is mostly a nonentity in this story.

The Dwarfs (or whatever fills the same role)
1. Snow White (2025 film)
2. 1937 animated film
3. Tale of Terror
4. Mirror, Mirror
5. OUAT
6. SW&tH

Films
1. Snow White (2025 film)
2. Tale of Terror
3. 1937 animated film
4. Mirror, Mirror
5. SW&tH

I don't think it's fair to rank OUAT in the film category since the show has who knows how many episodes and the others don't have that kind of time to build things. Most of the SW parts of the first season were incredible though; if forced, I'd probably put it first or second. I'm sure I've seen a Faerie Tale Theatre version, but I don't remember it.