Latest news with #SnowWhiteandtheSevenDwarfs
The Mainichi
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Mainichi
Hong Kong 'Super Fan' from Japan weaves art in city's vivid colors
OSAKA -- Japanese embroidery artist Katsumi Takeoka features Hong Kong themes such as pandas and "yum cha" dim sum and tea breakfasts in her works that are catching eyes both in Hong Kong and Japan. Based in Osaka, Takeoka is passionate about Hong Kong and was certified as a "Hong Kong Super Fan" by the Hong Kong Tourism Board in 2021. Among her creations is "Panda Paradise," with fuzzy pandas so cute one wants to pet them, gathered around a table. Other motifs include hanging roasted ducks found in shopfronts, bottles of oyster sauce and "bo lo yau" buns with butter in the center, closely reflecting daily Hong Kong life. Takeoka uses a technique called "punch needle" to give her embroidery a three-dimensional, fluffy look, employing thick yarn rather than traditional embroidery thread along with a specialized needle. The result is visually dynamic, and she sometimes adds beads or sequins to further accentuate the "kawaii" (cute) appeal. The artist spoke about how the lively image of Hong Kong seen in vibrant signboards or neon lights owes itself to traditional feng shui color practices. "Colors like red and gold, which symbolize health and prosperity, are preferred and used everywhere in the city, perhaps making it feel so energetic," Takeoka said. After graduating from art university, Takeoka worked as a designer for a baby bedding manufacturer. Her first visit to Hong Kong was in 1999. As someone accustomed to pale pastel hues for baby products, she found the Hong Kong cityscape to be a stimulating "flood of color." As her work involved using computers, she realized she wanted to create something by hand. She then remembered a "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" embroidery kit her mother bought her when she was a child. Takeoka resumed embroidery, starting her career as an artist in 2000. About 10 years ago, she purchased beads and sequins in Hong Kong and began thinking it might be interesting to make Hong Kong-themed works using the materials. In 2021, the Hong Kong Tourism Board ran a coloring contest featuring scenes of the city as part of a campaign. Although Takeoka was unable to enter during the application period, she converted a coloring design into an embroidery piece and posted it on Instagram, catching the attention of tourism board officials. In 2023, she was invited to participate in an art exhibition in Hong Kong, where she also worked on a joint project with a local artist. People often ask if Takeoka plans to move to Hong Kong, but her answer is a no. "I always want to keep the sense of excitement I feel as a tourist." For future projects, she is interested in the theme of "Neo-Hong Kong:" "I want to express a futuristic, ever-evolving Hong Kong," she said, her eyes gleaming with creative determination. Aside from embroidery, Takeoka also creates pieces with tufting, a weaving technique for carpets and other fabrics. (Japanese original by Mayu Maemoto, Osaka City News Department)
Forbes
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Rachel Zegler's ‘Snow White' Tumbles Out Of Box Office Top 10 As Theater Count Drops
"Snow White" partial poster featuring Rachel Zegler. The box office woes continued for Disney's live-action Snow White over the weekend as the film's theater count dropped to 610 venues. Starring Rachel Zegler in the title role and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, Snow White, of course, is based on Disney's 1937 classic animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Long before the film hit 4,200 theaters on March 21, though, Snow White was beset with controversies. Among them was Zegler's criticism of key aspects of the animated original and her 'Free Palestine' post, as well as Disney's decision to go with CGI dwarfs after actor Peter Dinklage — who was born with a form of dwarfism — raised concerns about how the diminutive characters would be portrayed. As if those controversies weren't harming the film enough, Snow White's public relations troubles were exacerbated in November when Zegler posted politically divisive messages on social media after the presidential election. Now, less than four weeks after the $270 million budgeted Snow White made an underwhelming $42.2 million in its opening weekend, the film officially dropped out of the top 10 at the domestic box office on Sunday. Posting a domestic tally of $100,000 from 610 North American venues on Friday (a theater count down significantly from 1,650 theaters last weekend), the film ended its fifth frame Sunday with an estimated take of $431,000, per The Numbers, to finish at No. 14. Should the numbers hold, this weekend's earnings will up Snow White's to $85.7 million domestically to date. Coupled with the film's international ticket sales of $109.4 million, Snow White's estimated worldwide box office stands at $195.1 million before prints and advertising. Rachel Zegler in "Snow White." The obvious next step for Snow White will be a run on digital streaming via premium video on demand. While some studios have as short as an 18-day window from the time their films open in theaters to arriving on PVOD — Lionsgate, for example, rushed Jason Statham's A Working Man to digital video in less than three weeks — Disney has a strict 60 theatrical to PVOD window. Universal Studios, too, has pushed some titles onto PVOD 18 days after release and some Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures releases — even hit titles — have appeared as soon as a month after opening in theaters. Snow White, meanwhile, will have to languish in theaters for at least three more weeks before Disney can open up a new revenue stream with digital video purchases and rentals on PVOD. The cruel irony for Snow White, of course, is that the R-rated A Working Man — a crime thriller with fewer potential customers in theaters with its restricted rating — not only knocked the Disney family film out of the top spot after one week, but the film started enjoying an extra revenue stream a mere 15 days after its opening frame with its swift PVOD debut. Disney, meanwhile, will be keeping Snow White theaters where as the audience attendance continues to fall you'll hear more and more insects chirping — and they're not of the Jiminy Cricket variety.
National Business Review
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- National Business Review
Hollywood's century of cinematic catastrophes
When the Walt Disney Company released a live-action remake of animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, it had already been branded a flop. This was not unusual, as word gets around that movie projects, some involving several hundreds of millions of dollars, are in trouble for various reasons. The new version, called just Snow White, had raised several red flags, some related to Disney's commitment to DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) before it went out of fashion under President Donald Trump. Snow White poster, with Gal Gabot and Rachel Zegler. Walt Disney Studios. The eponymous heroine was no longer 'white' but a Latino actress, Rachel Zegler. Although live action means using real people rather than animated ones, the seven dwarfs were computer generated. The pre-release publicity turned worse when the two female leads, Zegler and Gal Gabot (as the evil Queen), verbally clashed over the Gaza conflict. Before her screen career, Gabot was an Israeli beauty queen and had served in the Defence Force. Zegler sided with Hamas. But a flop isn't a flop until the figures come in. On a budget of US$250 million ($416.3m), a blockbuster movie needs an audience score of about 90% and to take at least US$100m in its first weekend if released globally. Backhanded reviews Snow White fell short on both counts, as well as getting backhanded reviews that it wasn't as bad as expected. But it was far from being a flop in the business definition. Its latest box office performance is approaching US$200m worldwide, making it fourth among the 2025 releases but still some distance from being profitable. It failed dismally in China, where Disney's The Little Mermaid – with an African American cast as the heroine – also met resistance from racially conscious audiences. The tariff war may mean the China market is now off-limits. Snow White does not meet London's Daily Telegraph film critic Tim Robey's definition of a flop in his clickbait book Box Office Poison, covering 100 years of Hollywood's biggest financial disasters. He chooses 26 titles, starting with DW Griffith's Intolerance (1916). This epic, originally two four-hour films telling four stories over 2500 years of human history, made the biggest unadjusted loss of any Hollywood production until 1954's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It ended Griffith's filmmaking career, as flops have done to dozens of others, several of which are recounted by Robey. Daily Telegraph film critic Tim Robey. Common problem They included, from the 1920s, the German director Joseph von Stroheim, whose Queen Kelly (1929) starring Gloria Swanson was never completed or released. His vision greatly exceeded his budget, a problem common to most flops. Von Stroheim continued his career as an actor. Box Office Poison has a cupboard full of anecdotes embellished by schadenfreude. The most notorious in recent times was Cats (2019), a mixed live-action and computer-generated version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. It had the makings of a train wreck from the get-go. Lloyd Webber was so traumatised that he bought an emotional support puppy so he could attend the New York premiere in the middle of the pandemic. He requested dispensation from an airline, which asked: 'Can you prove that you really need him?' He replied: 'Just see what Hollywood did to my musical Cats.' Back came the response: 'No doctor's report required.' The director, Tom Hooper, never made another movie. The same fate befell Martin Brest, whose Gigli (2003) was one of the 21st century's earliest flops. Most of the drama was in the off-screen affair, dubbed "Bennifer", between stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Robey blames director over-reach as well as a 'faithless producer who promised him a final cut, was freaked out by bad test screenings, then strong-armed him into softening his film's whole tone for a facile happy ending'. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck in Gigli. Columbia Pictures. Studio interference Most flops undergo similar interference when the product doesn't meet the studio's expectations. Warner Bros 'panicked' when faced with Dan Aykroyd's Nothing But Trouble (1991), a comedy-horror starring Chevy Chase and Demi Moore. Originally called Valkenvania and clearly made for adults, it was bowdlerised to remove all the gross-out content that would have made it a cult success. The same occurred to the studio's other headache at the time, The Bonfire of the Vanities, based on Tom Wolfe's bestselling novel. Robey describes other examples of filmmakers differing with their financiers about what was fit for public fare. All were ahead of their time. Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) was considered scandalous for casting disabled circus people. It has since become a cinema classic. Katharine Hepburn's cross-dressing in Sylvia Scarlett (1935) turned off audiences. Co-star Cary Grant and director George Cukor survived this setback, but Hepburn's acceptance by audiences had to wait for nearly a decade. The best-known example of studios having second thoughts in the 1940s was The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Orson Welles's follow-up to Citizen Kane. It was an epic family drama, a staple of today's streaming TV, but ill-timed for America's entry into World War II. Orson Welles during the filming of The Magnificent Ambersons. Bored teens RKO tested it to an audience of bored teens, later hacking it from 132 minutes to 88. Welles could not complain, as he had fled to Brazil, possibly to avoid war service. Robey includes only one flop from the 1950s, a golden era for Hollywood. It was an epic set in Ancient Egypt, unknown territory for even an all-rounder such as Howard Hawks. Land of the Pharaohs (1955) briefly employed William Faulkner as a screenwriter, but it lacked major stars or the prestige of Cecil DeMille's biblical extravaganzas. Martin Scorsese recycled the plot for Casino, even shoving in a sphinx and a pyramid from the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. Adaptations that go astray are common among flops. Dr Dolittle (1967) as a musical ended an era of 'roadshows' in the 1960s that reached their pinnacle in The Sound of Music. The high-octane French thriller The Wages of Fear (1950) was remade as Sorcerer (1977) by William Friedkin, who was then at his peak with The French Connection and The Exorcist. His career survived this budget blow-out, as did David Lynch, whose version of Dune (1984) was just as troubled. Other remakes or sequels that make Robey's list are Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997); Babe: Pig in the City (1998), which cost three times the original; and Rollerball (2002). The latter was nearly the end of the line for director John McTiernan, who was sentenced to a US Federal prison for perjury and involvement in an illegal wiretapping scandal. The acclaimed Coen brothers similarly blew their reputation as efficient filmmakers with The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), which spent millions on sets but whose lack of chemistry among the cast earned the description of a 'feathered fish'. Paul Newman regretted he had come out of a four-year retirement for his role. The Coens learned their lesson and rebounded with Fargo. Tim Robbins and Paul Newman in The Hudsucker Proxy. Warner Bros. Pirate drama That was not the case with Finnish director Renny Harlin, who had just married Geena Davis. She wanted an adventure-packed vehicle and chose Cutthroat Island, a pirate drama. Michael Douglas bailed on learning he would be second-string to a pirate's daughter. MGM lost US$190m and production company Carolco, which made the Rambo trilogy, went out of business. Harlin was later associated with A Sound of Thunder (2005), based on a short story by Ray Bradbury. Most of its budget was spent on the shoot, leaving nothing for special effects. Supernova (2000), The Adventure of Pluto Nash (2002), and Catwoman (2004) all sank without a trace, and are hard to find in any online source. Prodigious producer Joel Silver, with scores of titles to his name, was associated with both The Hudsucker Proxy and Rollerball. His successes included The Matrix series by the Wachowski trans sisters Lana and Lilly, who hit a bump with Speed Racer (2008). The loss on Cutthroat Island was nearly matched by Pan (2015), Joe Wright's ill-fated attempt to turn the Peter Pan children's story into an adult one, which he then had to undo. The estimated loss was US$150m on what Robey says was 'nervous unoriginality cloaked by an expensive façade of novelty'. Variety labelled it a turkey 'headed for a low-altitude flight'. 'Art' movies are seldom rated as flops, because they wear their low budgets with pride. That was not the case with Synecdote, New York (2008), which fell US$15.5m short in covering its costs. It was a disaster for Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, who was left 'bobbing without a raft' from his entanglement with Sony Pictures. He resorted to crowdfunding for the innovative Anamolisa (2015) to restart his career. Robey's choices are highly personal, chosen on the basis of disastrous production stories and dismal box office returns. That eliminates other well-known "flops" that eventually broke even or have had a second life. None of his profiles is as boring as the movies themselves, which, sadly, are now hard to find. Box Office Poison: Hollywood's story in a century of flops, by Tim Robey (Faber). Nevil Gibson is a former editor-at-large for NBR. He has contributed film and book reviews to various publications. This is supplied content and not commissioned or paid for by NBR.
Forbes
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Snow White' Drops Out Of Box Office Top 5 After Shedding 1,210 Venues
"Snow White" partial poster featuring Rachel Zegler. It appears Rachel Zegler's Snow White is raising the white flag as the Disney film has tumbled out of the box office top five less than a month after opening. Starring Zegler as the title character and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, Snow White, of course, is the live-action adaptation of Disney's 1937 animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Following years of controversies during the musical fairy tale's production — including Zegler's biting remarks about the original, her divisive political comments on social media and Disney's decision to render CGI dwarfs following an outcry by actor Peter Dinklage — the film hit the wall in its opening frame frame March 21-23. The film's opening weekend tally of $42.2 million from 4,200 North American theaters was anemic, considering it had a $270 million production budget, per The Numbers, before prints and advertising costs. At least the opening three-day take was enough to earn the No. 1 spot at the box office, but even that crowning achievement for the Disney princess movie didn't last that long. In the film's second weekend, Snow White's business dropped a staggering 66% percent for a $14.3 million tally from 4,200 theaters while Jason Statham's crime thriller A Working Man took the No. 1 with $15.3 million. Last weekend, Snow White skidded to No. 4 at the domestic box office with $5.9 million in ticket sales and this weekend the film is projected to earn about half of that. After dropping out of 450 North American theaters last weekend, Snow White shed another 1,210 venues on Friday. As a result, Snow White is projected by Deadline to earn $2.8 million this weekend from 2,540 theaters domestically for a No. 8 finish at the box office in its fourth Friday to Sunday frame. If the tally holds, it will up Snow White's domestic gross to $81.9 million. Coupled with the film's international take, Snow White has earned somewhere in the neighborhood of $173 million to date. Rachel Zegler in "Snow White." Without question, part of the reason Snow White took a dive last weekend was because of the opening of another PG family film — Jack Black and Jason Momoa's A Minecraft Movie — which defied all pre-opening box office projections to earn over $163 million domestically. Unlike Snow White's drastic 66% drop in its second weekend, A Minecraft Movie is estimated to drop only 50% from its opening weekend numbers, making an already impressive box office run even better. Even more damaging to Snow White's fourth-weekend prospects, though, were the wide releases of five new films this weekend — The King of Kings, The Amateur, Warfare, Drop and The Chosen: The Last Supper Part 3. The films, in that respective order, are projected by Deadline to take the No. 2 through No. 6 spots at the domestic box office this weekend. Taking the No. 7 spot ahead of Snow White is the film that bumped it out of first place two weekends ago: A Working Man, Deadline projected. With only one new major domestic release on the docket for next weekend — director Ryan Coogler's vampire thriller Sinners, starring Michael B. Jordan in dual roles — Snow White may have only one more weekend in the box office top 10. The film's next best hope for making anything from its massive budget back will come when the film is released on digital streaming and becomes available for purchase or rent on video on demand. While the PVOD date for Snow White is yet to be announced, it's a pretty safe guess that the tale of the film's run in theaters is one that will not end happily ever after.
Forbes
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Why ‘Snow White' Producer's Son Criticized Rachel Zegler Over Social Media Actions
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 15: Rachel Zegler attends the World Premiere of Disney's Snow White ... More at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 15, 2025. (Photo byfor Disney) The son of Snow White producer Marc Platt posted his grievances this week over star Rachel Zegler's social media activity during the production of the film, only to soon delete them. Snow White, which also stars Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, has been embroiled in one controversy after the next for more than three years. In one of them, Zegler made pointed comments about how Disney's animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was dated and how she referred to the character of the prince as a stalker in a 2022 interview with Extra TV. However, it was an August 2024 post on X following a thank you note to followers for watching the Snow White trailer that caused Disney to spring into action. After the initial 'thank you' to fans, Zegler followed up with another post that reads, 'and always remember, free palestine.' Following Snow White's flat opening of $42.2 million at the domestic box office against the film's massive $270 million production budget before marking costs, Variety reported that Snow White producer Marc Platt flew to New York to meet with Zegler in an effort to take the post down, but she refused. The X post remains online to this day. Zegler wasn't done being outspoken, though. She also criticized President Donald Trump and his MAGA followers in post-election posts in November that read, 'F--- Donald Trump' and 'May Trump supporters … and Trump himself never know peace,' although she later apologized, Variety reported. The trade publication noted that Platt once again took up the issue with Zegler. 'After a back and forth, she began working with a social media guru paid for by Disney to vet any posts before the film's March 21 bow,' Variety noted. PASADENA, CA - DECEMBER 13: Actor Jonah Platt attends the Lythgoe Family Pantos Opening Night ... More Performance Of "Beauty And The Beast-A Christmas Rose" at Pasadena Civic Auditorium on December 13, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Earl Gibson III/WireImage) In the aftermath of the Variety report, a social media user made a comment about Marc Platt's meeting with Rachel Zegler on Jonah Platt's Instagram page, which read, 'Your dad flew to NYC to reprimand a young actress about this? Any words on this? Cuz that's creepy as hell and uncalled for. People have the right to free speech, no? Shame on your father.' Jonah Platt didn't take too kindly to the comment and slammed Zegler's actions in the Instagram post. Platt deleted the post, but not before other social media users were able to take snaps of it and outlets like The Hollywood Reporter were able to quote it. 'You really want to do this? Yeah, my dad, the producer of enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, had to leave his family to fly across the country to reprimand his 20 year old employee for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicity for,' wrote Platt in the now-deleted post. Platt hosts the Being Jewish podcast and is an actor whose credits include Being the Ricardos and Trolls: The Beat Goes On! 'This is called adult responsibility and accountability. And her actions clearly hurt the film's box office,' Platt added in the Instagram post (via THR). 'Free speech does not mean you're allowed to say whatever you want in your private employment without repercussions. Tens of thousands of people worked on that film and she hijacked the conversation for her own immature desires at the risk of all the colleagues and crew and blue collar workers who depend on that movie to be successful. Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged.' Snow White's second-weekend box office is projected to drop 68% in business from its opening weekend, Deadline reported. If the trade publication's estimate holds, Snow White is set to earn $13.7 million at this weekend's box office, finishing second to Jason Statham's new action thriller A Working Man.
