Rachel Zegler has been trying to drum up support for her live action Snow White film despite heavy criticisms about the movie, including by sharing a snap from her childhood showing her dressed as the Disney princess
Rachel Zegler has shared a sweet throwback snap of herself dressed as Snow White to celebrate the release of her new film – which has not been received well.
The 23-year-old American actress plays the title character in a new live-action adaptation of the classic fairytale from Disney. The iconic film studios released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 as their first ever full-length animation film – which was a critical and commercial hit and has enchanted film fans for almost a century.
The original animated film was made for $1.5 million (£1.1 million) – which would be worth $32 million (£24 million) in today’s money – and went on to make over $418 million (£323 million). The new big budget live action film, which also stars Gal Gadot and Andrew Burnap, does not look set to make anywhere near as much for the film studio after being released on Friday.
To mark the release of the film, Rachel took to Instagram over the weekend to share an epic throwback photo of herself dressed as Snow White when she was a little girl. She then shared photos of her on set of the Disney film wearing her real Disney Princess dress as she filmed the project. She shared the images alongside a caption stating: “2004 [to] NOW — dreams really do come true… Snow White is now in theaters!” alongside a red apple emoji.
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The film has been a critical and commercial disaster, however – being panned by critics and film fans sharing photos from near-empty cinemas. On Sunday, Variety reported that the film was on track to make just $45 million (£34 million) over its opening weekend – which is not good news for the film.
Disney’s live action Little Mermaid remake, which premiered in 2023, made $95 million during its opening weekend, which was considered an under performance. Disney’s 2019 live action remake of Dumbo also made a total of $45 million (£34 million) – but in contrast had a budget of $170 million (£131 million) and took over $353 million (£273 million) at the box office overall.
Conversely, The Little Mermaid had an overall budget of just over $240 million (£185 million) and made a total of a little more than $569 million (£440 million) – although this was considered an under performance for the iconic film studio. Snow White has been reported as having a budget of up to $270 million (£208 million), with industry concerns that the film will fail to break even, let alone build a profit.
The film we beset with controversies over the filming process – with expensive re-shoots and re-writes reported as taking place as bosses tried to patch up a shaky first draft. Lead star Rachel caused controversy when she took aim at the original 1930s animated version of the film, branding it creepy and sparking an immediate backlash.
She was also the victim of racist abuse as some targeted her over her casting and made derogatory comments about her hispanic heritage. When images from the set emerged showing a line of performers in brightly coloured costumes emerged, there were rumours that the traditional seven dwarves had been re-cast as LGBTQ+ characters of both genders.
However, there was even more of a backlash when CGI dwarf characters were utilised instead – drawing criticism from dwarf performers who argued they had been deprived of rare potential work in Hollywood. There has also been criticism over the updated storyline of the film which some have argued has taken the charm and magic out of the original story.
Videos have been posted online of the empty cinemas, with one cinema fan writing alongside a picture of an empty venue: “So many people here to watch Snow White,” as one jested back: “Snow White and the seven viewers.” Multiple videos, posted on TikTok and elsewhere online, have shown empty cinemas as the movie played on the big screen.
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