With the "woke" accusations piling up for the live-action Snow White remake, Disney has elected to change its traditional UK premiere event prior to the movie's upcoming release on March 21, 2025.
The new Snow White has faced intense backlash, with its trailers being dislike-bombed on YouTube and criticism aimed at casting choices, CGI dwarves, and perceived deviations from the original film.
Rachel Zegler's casting sparked controversy due to her Colombian heritage, while leaked set photos of a diverse group of the Seven Dwarfs fueled accusations of excessive political correctness. This led some, including David Hand (son of the original film's supervising director), to label the remake as "woke."
Disney Changes Live-Action Snow White's Premiere Plans
Disney's Snow White remake will forgo a traditional UK premiere in favor of a grand European launch at a castle in Spain, according to The Standard.
While initial reports suggested the move was a response to the ongoing "anti-woke" controversy surrounding the film, a Disney insider clarified that a UK premiere was never planned. Instead, the studio always intended to debut the film at a "fairytale" venue, aligning with its magical theme.
The initial "anti-woke" response reports also mention that Disney will try to reduce the amount of press given to stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot. Thus far, that aspect appears to be true, as interviews with the two leads promoting their new movie are scarce in 2025.
Back in 2022, an interview with Zegler kicked off the entire "woke" accusations. At the D23 Expo, Segler said this version of the character isn't "going to be saved by the prince, and she's not going to be dreaming about true love:"
"I just mean that it’s no longer 1937. We absolutely wrote a 'Snow White' that ... she's not going to be saved by the prince, and she's not going to be dreaming about true love; she's going to be dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave and true."
It is hard to truly know how much the film's release has been altered based on online backlash, even though the rollout and marketing do seem reactionary by Disney. This is especially the case when considering that this is already a movie that Disney delayed a full year from its initial March 22, 2024, date.
Recently, advertisements for 2025's Snow White have noticeably leaned into the connections to the 1937 original, trying to reinvigorate long-time Disney animation fans to go check out the new remake.
However, the film strays away fundamentally from the original, replacing Prince Florian with a new character, Jonathan, played by Andrew Burnap, who is not a royal but a disillusioned member of a resistance movement.
In terms of the impact the backlash will have on its performance, Snow White is currently tracking (per Box Office Pro) to make $60 to $70 million opening weekend (domestically).
For comparison, 2023's The Little Mermaid earned $95.6 million on its opening weekend, so Snow White is shaping up to fall short of those expectations, but not completely trip on its skirt.
