Latest news with #SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Snow White: Good News And Bad News For Disney's Remake At Box Office
After months – if not years! – of controversy, for all manner of different reasons, Disney's latest live-action remake, Snow White, finally hit cinemas last weekend. Starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot as the title character and her wicked stepmother, the new film is a new adaptation of Disney's first ever animated feature, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, with a few notable tweaks. So, given just how much the film was in the headlines in the lead-up to its release, how has it performed with cinema-goers? Well, that depends on who you ask… Forbes reported that it made $43 million domestically (around £33 million) in its first few days, the lowest figure for any of Disney's live-action remakes (Mufasa, the 2024 Lion King origin story, did make less, but this is actually not a live-action remake, as most of the characters are animated in photo-realistic CGI). Globally, that figure for Snow White's opening weekend stands at $87 million (around £67 million). Prior to that, Dumbo held the unenviable title, after Tim Burton's version of the Disney classic made just $46 million in its first weekend. Not helping matters is that, reportedly because of costly reshoots, Snow White is listed among one of the most expensive films ever made, with its budget believed to have been around $240–270 million (around £185 – £208 million). A press release from Disney sent out to journalists on Monday indicated that it was the number one film at the UK box office, and celebrated making £3.85 million across both the UK and Ireland in its first few days. Rachel Zegler also posted a behind-the-scenes picture from set celebrating her Snow White film being the 'number one movie in the world'. One small detail was picked up on by The Guardian. Despite some (tired) criticism of the film centring around how supposedly 'woke' it is, compared to its animated counterpart, Snow White is apparently performing better at the box office in US states that voted for the Republicans in last year's US election than so-called 'blue states'. Read more about the many controversies surrounding Snow White here. This Is Why The New Snow White Live-Action Remake Has Been So Controversial For Disney The Snow White Reviews Are In – So, Is The Remake More 'Heigh-Ho' Or 'Ho-Hum'? Snow White Remake Faces Yet More Criticism Over CGI Characters
Euronews
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Euronews Culture's Film of the Week: 'Snow White' - The poisoned apple you're expecting?
ADVERTISEMENT Magic Mirror on the wall, is the latest cynical Disney live-action remake the shittiest of them all? It seems like a fair line of inquiry considering the amount of hatred directed at the remake of the 1937 animated classic Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs . First, there was the casting of Rachel Zegler, the breakout star of Steven Spielberg's West Side Story , whose part-Colombian heritage irked both Disney literalists and race purists. Dogmatic fans and rampant racist abuse would have been easy enough to dismiss had Zegler not embarked on what can only be described in PR terms as a complete catastrofuck, appearing to diss the original tale and indulging in some eye-rolling 'girl boss' posturing on red carpets which turned the whole internet against her. Then there was the representation issue, with Disney initially replacing the seven dwarfs with seven 'magical creatures'. This prompted accusations of 'wokeness' - a term which originally signaled a positive level of awareness and compassion but is now a death sentence due to the political right's disparaging co-opt of the word. Regardless, the ensuing backlash led the House of Mouse to rejig some things (more on that in a bit) and not cast actors with dwarfism to avoid perpetuating stereotypes. Instead, Disney opted for CGI – which cheated the same actors out of work. Lose/lose. As if that wasn't enough controversy for one film, Israeli actress Gal Gadot has advocated for her home nation, while Zegler publicly backed Palestine. This fuelled rumours of a rift between the two leads. Rewrites, reshoots, ballooning budgets, a scaled back press tour, a low-key premiere and an exhausting-to-read laundry list of polemics later, and Snow White finally hits theatres. So, let's get back to the original question: Is it the shittiest of them all? Surprisingly, no. Granted, the bar is so low with the live action likes of Alice in Wonderland , Dumbo , The Lion King and Pinocchio that elevating Snow White above these disasters is damning with very faint praise. However, it's not the cursed slumber it could have been. Just a passably fair reimagining. Snow White Disney Directed by Marc Webb ( 500 Days of Summer , The Amazing Spider-Man ), from a script by Erin Cressida Wilson ( The Girl on the Train ), Snow White ends up sticking to the familiar template – with a few tweaks here and there that aren't as daring or smug as many were led to believe. A princess is born during a snowstorm - hence 'Snow White'. Nice touch. She's beloved by her parents and the kingdom. Sadly, saintly mommy Queen (Lorena Andrea) snuffs it and is replaced by a wicked stepmother (Gadot). Then, benevolent daddy King (Hadley Fraser) mysteriously disappears and the tyrannical harridan effectively lives up to her name by becoming the Evil Queen. She who hoards the riches of the kingdom, leaves the people to starve, and makes Snow her housemaid. Our heroine grows into a young woman (Zegler) with a Lord Farquaad bob haircut. She isn't waiting for her prince to come but wants to be a good leader for her people. Snow does, however, meet a young rapscallion with gorgeous hair named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap). That vanilla dreamboat replaces the prince figure as a Robin Hood-like character who steals food from the rich to give to the poor. Then, a magic mirror informs the Evil Queen she'll never be the fairest of them all if Snow White continues her pesky oxygen habit. In another neat little rewrite, the Queen's magical powers derive from her beauty, hence the threat Snow poses is more existential than pure vanity this time around. Thankfully, the woodsman (Ansu Kabia) changes his mind when it comes to cutting out Snow's heart as ordered, and helps her escape to the woods, where she takes refuge with seven... Oh, the horror... Oh, the CGI horror... ADVERTISEMENT Snow White Disney Despite a committed performance from Rachel Zegler, who almost *almost * manages to make you forget that Gal Gadot simply cannot act or convincingly read a line, there's no getting around the skin-melting CGI monstrosity of the seven dwarfs. Granted, the film was between a rock and a hard place when it came to casting, but the end solution of having creepy digital avatars that are both photorealistic and Uncanny Valley-levels of distracting is misjudged in the extreme. How this nightmare fuel got past the unsharpened pencils in the quality control committee will remain a mystery for the ages. Once you've accepted your new sleep paralysis demons, Snow White snowballs into a tonally discordant and overly long clutter leading to a rebellion that involves Jonathan's bandits – those aforementioned 'magical creatures' who were clearly at one point intended as substitutes for the original septet. It's fourteen scamps for the price of seven in the revolution to liberate the kingdom from Queen Charisma Bypass and restore a time of fairness when "the bounty of the land belonged to all who tended it". Highly commendable though monarchy defiance is - and this is the closest Disney has ever gotten to seeing the benefits of a communist utopia, so well done there - many of the empowerment-by-buzzword beats still land with repeated thuds. Snow White Disney At the end of the day and all controversies aside, Snow White is not the total calamity many expected - or hoped for. So, everyone relax and remember that Tim Burton's Dumbo exists. ADVERTISEMENT However, that doesn't stop it from being another clumsily executed, nostalgia-pandering update that joins a never-ending conveyor belt of inessential Disney back catalogue retreads. It may have its Broadway energy and heart in the right place, but as evidenced by the new tune 'Waiting On A Wish' - which replaces the original film's leading song 'Some Day My Prince Will Come' - it's alright when its playing but completely forgettable once the moment's gone. "Now, a formula to transform my beauty into ugliness," schemed the original animated Evil Queen in 1937. 88 years later and it's clear that Disney could use a new formula too. Unlike that memorable villain, however, the corporate behemoth is in dire need of a potion that transforms their ugly practice into beauty once more. Our advice? Call up Emilie Blichfeldt - she knows how to compellingly and daringly reimagine a fairytale. ADVERTISEMENT Snow White is out now.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Critics give mixed reaction to Snow White, calling remake ‘awful and enchanting'
Reviews of the live-action remake of Snow White have ranged from 'exhaustingly awful' to 'enchantingly refreshed'. The Disney movie, a remake of the popular 1930s animated film Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, stars American actress Rachel Zegler as the titular princess, and has faced controversy almost since being announced. Some reviewers gave the remake one star, but both the BBC and The Telegraph awarded the movie three stars, with The Metro going further with a four star rating. When Zegler, 23, who is from a Latina background, was cast as a character described as having a complexion 'as white as snow', there was a backlash on social media. Game Of Thrones star Peter Dinklage, who has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, criticised Disney, calling it a 'backwards story of the seven dwarves living in the cave' on Marc Maron's WTF podcast. At the Guardian, Peter Bradshaw called it an 'exhaustingly awful reboot', criticising the decision to axe 'the prince', who was replaced by a character called Jonathan, played by American actor Andrew Burnap, and make seven supernatural creatures with CGI. Giving it one star, he claimed Disney were 'all too obviously agonising and backlash-second-guessing', while needing to keep the brand identity of the princess in a yellow frock with puffy shoulders, and Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen with a 'pointy dark crown and skull-hugging black balaclava'. He said the CGI dwarfs are duplicated, as Jonathan, a Robin Hood-esque character, has his 'own gang of seven live-action bandits, in which people with dwarfism are represented'. 'This fudged, pseudo-progressive approach is so tiring you'll want to put your head in your hands,' he added. Kevin Maher at the Times also gave it one star, saying Disney has 'trashed its crown jewel and its reputation'. He said it was 'a new low for cultural desecration', and the studio 'infantilises global audiences with sanctimonious life lessons'. However, the Metro's Tori Brazier praised the movie, calling it 'surprisingly one of its (Disney's) strongest and most worthwhile 'reimaginings' to date'. View this post on Instagram A post shared by rachel zegler (@rachelzegler) She said West Side Story actress 'Zegler once again proves herself an enchanting talent with a voice to match, carefully avoiding falling into twee territory as the original Disney princess', and 'Gadot is clearly enjoying herself in the role of an iconic camp villain'. BBC critic Nicholas Barber said the 'story is cluttered, the tone is muddled, and the pacing is off', but that 'doesn't make the film a disaster'. 'In some ways, the identity crisis is what makes it worth seeing,' he added. 'But this muddled production will be enjoyed more by politics and cinema students than by children who are hoping to be enchanted by Disney magic.' The Telegraph's Robbie Collin said that it was not 'too woke – and better than' the hit musical Wicked, the prequel reimagining of the film and book The Wizard Of Oz, that was one of the biggest blockbusters last year, and earned 10 Oscar nods, winning two. He also said 'there's no real subversion or 'girl-bossing' for the sake of it in Disney's live-action remake'. After Dinklage's remarks, Disney said it was consulting members of the dwarfism community to 'avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film'. The use of CGI for the miners by Disney has prompted criticism from some other actors with dwarfism. The film has had small-scale premieres in Los Angeles and Spain, with few press opportunities, Snow White will be released on Friday in UK cinemas.
