Recently, Disney’s live-action version of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” arrived in theaters. The movie stars Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. With the cast and producers speaking highly of their work, it was predicted to do very well. However, even in the early production of the movie, there was controversy that carried over into the box office results.
Before the release of the film, many fans were not pleased with the casting of Zegler as Snow White. This was because the original character was described as having skin “as white as snow.” Because of this, Zegler received a lot of hatred and abuse from fans. However, she prevailed and finished the filming process.
For Disney, the movie was expected to be a box office hit, but due to the controversy from filming, this failed to happen. In its first week at the box office, the movie made $66 million, barely surpassing “Dog Man.” Although this may seem like a lot of money, it does not compare to how well other hit films like “Inside Out 2” did. Currently, it is predicted that the film will fall 68% in the box office, and it has only received a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Since the movie was expensive to produce, this makes its struggles even more apparent.
Once the film was released, even more controversy began to arise from viewers. One of the biggest complaints was about the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) for the seven dwarfs. Many were disappointed because some of the dwarfs were not perfectly depicted as they were in previous versions of the movie. When viewers saw the dwarfs, some believed they looked unsettling or even uncanny. Another controversy came from the fact that Disney could have cast actors with dwarfism. However, Disney decided to use CGI to avoid reinforcing stereotypes.
Similar to the original film, the live-action version was also a musical. Many thought this was a nice touch, yet it didn’t compare to other hit Disney musicals. However, the film did include the popular song “Whistle While You Work,” which was a good addition. If Disney had advertised the film differently, it might have had a better outcome at the box office.
Much of the controversy in this film was inevitable, and in some cases, it faded after the movie’s release. However, this did not work in Disney’s favor, causing the film to fail tremendously at the box office. With such low growth and a poor Rotten Tomatoes score, the film is unlikely to find success. There wasn’t much Disney could have done to avoid this, but they produced what they felt was best. In the end, it was still a strong attempt to revive such a classic and important film.