Rachel Zegler’s Snow White bombs at box office as fans ‘snub’ Disney remake

Despite receiving numerous negative reviews of the live-action version of Snow White, Rachel Zegler has been trying to sway viewership by sharing a photo of her as the Disney princess from her early years.

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 reprises the role of the titular character in a brand-new Disney live-action adaptation. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated movie ever produced by the renowned film studios, was a critical and commercial success and has captivated film enthusiasts for almost a century.

The first animated movie was produced for $1.5 million (£1.1 million), which would have been equivalent to $ 32 million (£24 million) in today’s currency, and later grossed more than $ 418 million (£323). After being released on Friday, the new big-budget live action movie, which also stars Gal Gadot and Andrew Burnap, doesn’t appear to be doing much for the studio.

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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However, the movie has been a critical and commercial failure, with critics and moviegoers sharing photos from almost empty theaters. Variety reported on Sunday that the movie was only projected to make $45 million (£34 million) over its opening weekend, which is not good for the movie.

The live-action version of the Disney film Little Mermaid, which debuted in 2023, earned $95 million during its opening weekend, which was regarded as a subpar performance. In contrast, Disney’s 2019 live-action remake of Dumbo also grossed $45 million (£34 million), but it only managed $ 170 million (£ 131 million) and earned over $ 353 million (£273 million) overall at the box office.

The Little Mermaid, on the other hand, earned just over $ 240 million (£185 million) and made a little over $ 569 million (£ 440 million) overall, despite being viewed as a subpar performance from the renowned film studio. Industry concerns that the movie won’t be able to make a profit despite reports that it has a budget of up to $ 270 million (£208 million).

The movie is rife with controversy over the filming process, with allegedly expensive reshoots and rewrites being carried out as bosses attempted to fix a shaky first draft. When lead actress Rachel criticized the 1930s animated version of the movie, which she called creepy, and immediately caused a backlash.

She also experienced racist abuse because of comments made disparaging about her Hispanic heritage and made of her casting. There were rumors that the traditional seven dwarves had been re-cast as LGBTQ+ characters of both genders when images of the set started to emerge showing a line of performers dressed in bright costumes.

However, dwarf performers who claimed they had been deprived of exceptional potential work in Hollywood criticized the use of CGI dwarf characters, which added to the backlash. The film’s updated storyline, which some claim has removed the charm and magic from the original story, has also received criticism.

One cinema fan wrote, “So many people here to watch Snow White,” while another jested back, “Snow White and the seven viewers,” in a video posted online of the empty theaters. Multiple online videos posted on TikTok and other sites have shown empty cinemas as the movie played.

Source: Mirror