2025’s “Snow White” has kicked off its release by being one of the lowest fan-rated films of the year.
Snow White is a classic story about a Disney princess that has been discussed for generations. Naturally, Disney wanted to remake and modernize the tale so that new generations could properly enjoy the heartwarming story it tells. So, three years ago, they began production for a new Snow White film. However, from casting controversies to politics, all the way to production team “beef,” it has become a nightmare that Disney won’t forget.
One of the biggest outrages from people all over the country regarding the movie is the casting of Rachel Zegler. She is a Latina actress, meanwhile, Snow White has typically always been described with “skin as white as snow”. This made many fans of the original movie feel as if it ignored the character’s traditional depiction, making an unnecessary and weird change. However, a larger part of the outrage at the casting came from people using this as an example of “woke culture”. For the same reason people were upset at Ariel the Mermaid being cast with a black actress, people speculate that movie productions are casting based on inclusion and representation and not on who will fill the role best.
Additionally, the movie was shrouded in politics from the very start as Rachel Zegler was very public with her opinions on the Isreal-Palenstine conflict. She took a pro-Palestinian stance, which upset a lot of Israeli supporters and even just viewers who want to keep politics out of entertainment. However, many fans of the story were able to look past it because her political views were not going to be prominent in the movie. 
On the other hand, they were not able to look past her political critiques of the legendary 1937 film. Zegler has stated that the original film is problematic and stereotypes gender roles, leading her to say that the movie is “weird”. She then proceeded to state that the new film would be way different, having Snow White be her own leader rather than a damsel in distress. This angered many fans, both men and women, who didn’t see the problem with the original film. It also makes Zegler seem arrogant, believing the new film would be better than one of the most highly regarded and watched movies of all time. Rather than just modernizing the movie, she disrespected the original which many could not look past.
Because of all the hate and backlash Zegler and the movie were getting at that point in time, Disney limited press interactions. This showed the public that Disney was likely regretting their choice, and not confident in their own movie then. During a movie’s premiere, it is one of the best times for building up hype with the press, but in this case, it did not. All of the interchanges with the media were extremely restricted. This made the public lose even more interest in the film and alienated the fans who still wanted to watch the movie.
Not even people connected to the movie were happy with Zegler, and they fully blamed her for the reason that the movie was failing so badly. The producer’s son, Jonah, stated that his father had to reprimand Zegler for “dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie,” which he claims “clearly hurt the film’s box office.” He even went so far as to indirectly call her narcissistic.
All of these reasons are why it’s currently rated a 1.6/10 on IMDb, a 1.3/5 on Google, and only 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. This is vastly different compared to the original, which has a 7.6 IMDb rating, a 4.3 rating on Google, and an astonishing 97% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Overall, this movie has been a complete disaster for Disney. It’s on track to barely make enough money to cover the production cost at the box office, and it has been a PR nightmare. It’s unclear if Disney will make a statement regarding the situation, but fans who are let down are hoping for one. This might spark the end of hiring actors who are different than their fictional counterparts, but Disney could always double down in their next movie remake. We’ll have to wait to see.
