What do you get when you take a movie classic, 1937’s Snow White, and transform it into a 2025 “woke” reimagination?
Uhhh… maybe I should have started that sentence “What do you LOSE…”.
Why? Here’s your answer, from Andrew Boardwine’s article at insidethemagic.net:
Disney has always prided itself on being the studio of dreams, but sometimes those dreams turn into costly nightmares.
That’s exactly what happened with Rachel Zegler’s Snow White (2025), a film that was supposed to be a triumphant reimagining of the company’s first full-length animated classic. Instead, it became one of Disney’s most expensive failures, leaving the studio with little choice but to quietly drop the project from its future plans and much more.
The live-action remake of Snow White entered theaters under a storm of controversy. From Rachel Zegler’s dismissive comments about the 1937 original, to her highly publicized political posts, the film was plagued with backlash months before audiences even saw it. When it finally released on March 21, 2025, it limped out of the gate with just $42 million domestically and stalled at around $194 million worldwide.
That number might sound decent, but the film’s production and marketing costs were reported to exceed $270 million. Factor in the revenue split with theaters, and Disney found itself staring at a massive hole in its finances—estimated at a $115 million loss. For a company that has relied heavily on nostalgia-driven remakes, this was more than a flop. It was a wake-up call.
Mr. Boardwine seems to think that this is a wake-up call for Disney.
Is it? I’m not so sure. Disney has, for some time, quietly acquiesced to the “woke” folk, and transformed itself leftward. This is not the first indication that it is damaging the Disney brand.
That said, however, $115 million is a pretty significant indication. So I guess we’ll find out if the lesson was learned as time goes on.
If, next time around, Goofy is transgendered into Goofette, I guess we’ll have our answer.
