Disney Fans Resurrect Controversial ‘Snow White’ Movie Months After Release

Rachel Zegler may be wowing the city of London nightly as Eva Peron in Jamie Lloyd’s Evita, but her turn as Disney’s first princess Snow White is still making waves.

Disney’s Snow White (2025) wrapped up its theatrical run in April, and its financial and critical reception has landed with a thud. The live-action adaptation of the 1937 animated milestone struggled from the outset and closed as one of the biggest misfires in the company’s recent slate of remakes.

Initially scheduled for 2024, the project saw multiple delays before finally hitting theaters on March 21, 2025. Even with the extended development window, the film failed to gain traction with audiences or critics, entering cinemas amid ongoing controversy and steep expectations.

Much of the attention centered on Rachel Zegler, who portrayed the iconic princess. The actress faced public backlash when 2022 interviews resurfaced, revealing her interpretation of Snow White as a more self-reliant character.

Zegler said her version would not be dreaming about true love or waiting for a prince to save her, even implying that the original prince came off like “a stalker.” The comments stirred criticism from longtime fans who believed the reimagining lost the heart of the original fairy tale.

Screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson (The Girl on the Train) crafted the film’s updated storyline, which aimed to contemporize the classic tale. While some praised the new vision, others found fault with nearly every major creative decision, ranging from the cast and portrayal of the dwarfs to the film’s thematic shifts.

Zegler later acknowledged the backlash, suggesting it was likely driven by people’s deep emotional connections to the 1937 film.

Behind the scenes, off-screen tensions further clouded the film’s trajectory. Reports emerged about political friction between Zegler and Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen. These rumored disagreements coincided with the significant downsizing of red carpet events in both Europe and the U.S., alongside scaled-back promotional campaigns.

Variety published a deep dive into the troubled release, highlighting a particularly contentious moment: Zegler’s “Free Palestine” post on X (formerly Twitter), shared just after the trailer launch. The timing was notable, coming in the wake of the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel.

Gadot, an Israeli native and former IDF member, publicly supported Israel, adding further polarization to the film’s reception.

Box office forecasts were grim from the beginning, with early estimates pegging the opening at $53 million domestically against a towering $270+ million budget. Ultimately, the film debuted with just $42 million in North America.

At the end of its theatrical run, the movie has earned $205,679,463 worldwide, with $87,203,963 from domestic markets and $118,475,500 internationally, according to Box Office Mojo. The number falls far below profitability. Forbes broke it down clearly: “Assuming an approximate 50-50 split means that Snow White needs to gross at least $427.8 million for Disney to cover its costs at the box office.”

However, it hasn’t all been doom and gloom for Disney’s Snow White. The movie debuted on Disney+ on June 11 and quickly topped the streaming charts. “According to data from FlixPatrol, which charts popularity on streaming services, the movie is currently the No. 1 film on Disney+,” Comic Book wrote last month.

Now, almost four months after its theatrical run, it has been revealed that Disney’s Snow White appeared on the Nielsen streaming charts, which rank movies and TV shows across all streaming services, for the period of its release. Alongside movies like Straw (2025) on Netflix and The Accountant 2 (2025) on Amazon Prime Video, Snow White placed fifth on the “Top 10 Movies” list, with 581 million minutes viewed.

It’s clear that, despite the backlash, audiences were still curious enough to engage with the movie when it hit the streamer.

Joining Zegler and Gadot onscreen were Andrew Burnap as Jonathan, Ansu Kabia as the Huntsman, Jeremy Swift as Doc, Andrew Barth Feldman as Dopey, Tituss Burgess as Bashful, George Salazar as Happy, Martin Klebba as Grumpy, Andy Grotelueschen as Sleepy, and Jason Kravits as Sneezy.

Disney’s Box Office Redemption with Lilo & Stitch

Initially developed for Disney+, Lilo & Stitch (2025) opened in theaters to massive numbers after tracking impressively up to its release.

Like Moana 2 (2024), the film shifted to a wide release. According to Deadline prior to its debut, “Six weekend-in-advance tracking has hit for both movies on Quorum, with Lilo & Stitch eyeing a $100M+ 3-day opening and [Mission: Impossible 8] eyeing a record 3-day for the franchise, well north of 2018’s Mission: Impossible–Fallout’s $61M.”

Lilo & Stitch went on to exceed expectations during its Memorial Day weekend opening, netting just shy of $183 million domestically and $361 million globally, per The Walt Disney Company’s late May press release. Dean Fleischer Camp’s live-action remake currently sits at $976.9 million worldwide.

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