Disney Buries Live-Action 'Snow White' With New Princess

The Walt Disney Company looks to turn the tide on the perception many fans hold for the once untouchable entertainment giant, and one princess is being thrust front and center.

Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Disney's live-action version of Snow White — Credit: Disney

Disney’s elite animated filmmaking was always the backbone of the 100-year-old company. From Walter Elias Disney’s first-ever feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the company has been a consistent and stable part of millions of lives.

The perception seemingly changed when the pandemic struck. Following a record year in 2019, which saw the likes of Toy Story 4 and Frozen II net over a billion dollars each, the industry-wide shutdown in 2020 and beyond led to Disney and Pixar relying on the power of their fledgling streaming service, Disney+, to entertain fans in their own homes. Sure, Encanto received a quiet release in movie theaters in late 2021, but it wasn’t until the Disney animation hit Disney+ on Christmas Eve the same year that the film really found its following.

Mirabel and Dolores Madrigal talking in Encanto — Credit: Disney

That said, Disney and Pixar’s return to the big screen in 2022 left little to be admired. First up, Lightyear, the Toy Story spinoff, became the center of a political and culture war for featuring a same-sex kiss. Then, just months later, Disney’s Strange World bombed at the box office, again inciting discourse over Disney’s diversity and inclusion efforts regarding the film’s central openly gay teen character–the first in House of Mouse history. This year will also see the renaming of Peter Pan’s Lost Boys to be more gender-inclusive.

And the box office wasn’t much better in 2023 when, during the company’s centennial year, Disney’s Wish movie became one of the poorest rated in the history of the company.

Asha looks nervously at a dancing star in 'Wish,' the upcoming Disney movie. — Credit: Disney

One of the biggest points of contention with Disney’s current studio projects is that they are too focused on being diverse and politically correct, something that has led more vocal fans to call the company “woke,” with “go woke, go broke” becoming the unofficial tagline to most of Disney’s recent box office losses.

It was only a couple of years ago when Disney revealed that a live-action Snow White was in development and that Latina actress Rachel Zegler would be playing Disney’s first Princess. The film, at first, was to also include magical creatures in place of the dwarfs. This came after the company heard complaints that the dwarfs were culturally insensitive.

Snow White dancing with the seven dwarfs — Credit: Disney

Ever since, Disney’s Snow White, as it would be officially called, has faced near-consistent backlash for being “woke” and is already deemed to be a box office failure. This was not helped by the resurgence of Zegler’s comments about the original animated movie, where she essentially revealed the live-action outing would rewrite the story of Snow White.

It was a surprise, though, when Disney eventually shifted Snow White‘s release from March 2024 to March 2025, and with it revealed a first look at Zegler’s character plus seven dwarfs, not magical creatures. Still, the project remains somewhat tarnished by its early backlash, and now Disney is burying their first Princess with a more recent, yet equally beloved, character.

Moana looks out at the setting sun in 'Moana' (2017) — Credit: Disney

In a mind-boggling turn of events, Disney announced that Moana 2 would be coming later this year. What was once supposed to be a television show on Disney+ has been reworked into a feature film and will be released exclusively in movie theaters this November. At present, it is unclear if Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson are returning to voice Moana and Maui, respectively, but it can be expected that they will.

“After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced,” reads the synopsis of the Moana sequel via PEOPLE.

dwayne johnson as maui in moana singing you're welcome by lin-manuel miranda — Credit: Disney

Moana (2016) recently crossed the 1 billion hours watched milestone on streaming and was the most-watched movie in the United States last year, so this sequel makes sense.

And then, if the animated sequel wasn’t enough, Moana will return once again in 2025 in an all-new live-action adaptation of the first movie. Not even a decade after the animation first debuted, this new iteration is slated to release in June 2025, per Dwayne Johnson himself, who is producing alongside Disney. Cravalho is not returning for this live-action version.

Disney made waves with both of its Moana announcements over the last 10 months, and with the ocean master now the talk of the town and Disney’s Snow White buried between the two upcoming projects, will the company’s original princess sink or swim?

Moana 2 is slated to release on November 27, 2024. Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, as well as Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina, will work on the music for the sequel. Lin-Manuel Miranda is not returning to write songs for Moana 2.

Do you think Disney is hiding Snow White with Moana? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!