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Credit: The Daily Wire (L), Disney (R)In another universe, Disney’s Snow White has already been released. The Walt Disney Company delayed its live-action remake of the 1937 animated classic last year following a turbulent summer for the industry with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
But 2024 was not only set to have Disney’s own take on Snow; another version created by conservative outlet The Daily Wire and starring Brett Cooper was also seemingly on track for a release this year, although reports were conflicting.
Now, both versions of the original animated film—Disney’s modernized and culturally updated effort and The Daily Wire’s apparent carbon copy of the House of Mouse’s original take from the 30s—are slated for 2025.
Which will you be seeing?
Disney’s Snow White vs. Snow White and the Evil Queen
When The Walt Disney Company announced it would be pushing the release of its latest live-action remake by an entire year, it did so by also sharing the first proper look at Rachel Zegler’s titular princess and a slew of CGI dwarfs. It was the first time audiences were getting a look at the seven dwarfs, who, years ago, were seemingly getting replaced with “magical creatures.”
The move to change the dwarf characters came after backlash, mainly–or at least most vocally–by Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage. Dinklage’s views were not widely supported by the dwarfism community, though, with others slamming the Emmy winner’s take.
The discourse surrounding Disney’s live-action Snow White was not limited to the studio’s interpretation of the seven dwarfs. The casting of Rachel Zegler was also met with controversy. In a similar way to how Halle Bailey’s casting as Ariel in Rob Marshall’s The Little Mermaid (2023) drew ire because Bailey was Black, so did Zegler’s casting because of her Latina identity.
While Zegler’s casting continues to spark discourse, it was recently shared that the origin of Snow White’s name (“skin as white as snow”) would be altered for the upcoming movie. Instead of her skin color, Zegler’s Snow will gain her namesake after surviving a snowstorm.
“It fell back to another version of Snow White that was told in history, where she survived a snowstorm that occurred when she was a baby,” Zegler told Variety earlier this month. “So the king and queen decided to name her Snow White to remind her of her resilience. One of the core points in our film for any young woman or young person is remembering how strong you actually are.”
The last comment regarding the core point of the feature film echoes what the actress discussed last year—and was subsequently “canceled” over by many. In 2023, comments that Zegler made at D23 Expo 2022 resurfaced, sparking the biggest and most directed attacks at the actress online.
Zegler described the prince character from the 1937 movie as a stalker, adding that his role in the film was “weird.” The West Side Story star also hammered home the differences between this new version made for the 21st century and the animation from over 85 years ago, with her comments about how “it’s not 1937 anymore” circulating on social media.
“She’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love,” Zegler said at D23 Expo (via the New York Post). “She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave, and true.” Zegler added: “It’s just a really incredible story for young people everywhere to see themselves in.”
These comments, in particular, drew backlash from ardent fans of the original, with some questioning whether Zegler even liked Snow White at all–she does, as she previously stated. But this media storm opened up a big enough fissure that another, less mainstream studio decided to play their own Snow White cards.
Back in October 2023, during Disney’s centennial year, The Daily Wire’s Jeremy Boreing announced that the conservative media outlet, also known for its work with ousted Lucasfilm star Gina Carano, would be adapting and releasing its own version of the Snow White story starring Brett Cooper in the title role.
“It’s a story about a princess and a prince, about beauty and vanity, about love and its power to raise us from death to life,” said Daily Wire co-founder Boreing (via The Hollywood Reporter). “It’s our own adaptation of an ancient fairy tale.”
“It’s taken 100 years to build Disney,” Boreing added. “We know we aren’t what Disney is today, but we hope in time we might become what they were, once upon a time: a little studio with big ideas and the courage to chase them. … While Disney still uses Walt’s name, they have all but abandoned his legacy.”
The Daily Wire’s take would later be known as Snow White and the Evil Queen after the outlet dropped its first teaser on the same day as Boreing’s press release. The outlet also shared that the movie would be released on their children’s streaming platform, Bentkey.
While discussing Snow White and the Evil Queen with Jordan B. Peterson on The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast, Brett Cooper, who also hosts her popular YouTube show The Comments Section, addressed why The Daily Wire was producing its own adaptation.
“People were very disappointed, very upset about the way Disney was rolling out this project,” Cooper said in May 2024. She also revealed that they are currently “in pre-production” on the film, which is apparently coming out soon.
“As somebody who is more traditional … it’s sad to watch these stories be completely destructed for that [woke] agenda,” Cooper added.
The so-called “woke agenda” has been debated for years, especially regarding Disney projects, and the Daily Wire team behind Snow White and the Evil Queen definitely leans toward that sentiment. In the hopes of growing its platforms to a Disney level, The Daily Wire is clearly targeting those Disney consumers who have drifted from the Mouse House over differing political and cultural views.
While there is no concrete release date for Snow White and the Evil Queen, it is slated for next year; Boreing tweeted in April that Bentkey, which is also known for its version of Bluey called Chip Chilla, has “several new original series in development [and] are acquiring new shows every month.”
Related: Government Gets Involved in Controversial Live-Action ‘Snow White’ Remake
“…and, of course, in 2025, we’ll release Bentkey’s first feature-length film, Snow White and the Evil Queen, starring (now Mrs.)
@imbrettcooper,” the co-founder wrote.
At the time of Snow White and the Evil Queen‘s teaser drop, no video content was available for Disney’s Snow White. That all changed in mid-August when the official trailer was released to coincide with the D23 Expo event in Anaheim, Southern California.
Interestingly, the first trailer seemed to highlight all the contentious points fans took issue with: there will be a love interest, the dwarfs are dwarfs and not “magical creatures,” and there will be a classic villain in the form of Gal Gadot’s Evil Queen.
Disney’s Snow White still faces an uphill climb as we inch closer to the Spring box office season, but if the classic fairytale tone of the trailer is anything to go by, there could be a chance that the film surprises the masses and manages to reel in even the most stalwart naysayer. If anything, it will give its critics something to complain about.
Disney’s Snow White is scheduled for a March 22, 2025, release.
Directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by Greta Gerwig and Erin Cressida Wilson, Snow White stars Rachel Zegler as Snow White, Emilia Faucher as young Snow White, Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, Andrew Burnap as Jonathan, Ansu Kabia as the Huntsman, Dujonna Gift as Maple, Martin Klebba as Grumpy, and Colin Michael Carmichael as an undisclosed role.
Related: The Real Reason Disney Canceled ‘Snow White’s Release Revealed, Report Says
Songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (known professionally as Pasek and Paul) will contribute to the music created by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey. The latter wrote the popular Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs tracks “Heigh-Ho” and “Some Day My Prince Will Come.”
2025 is shaping up to be a significant cultural milestone for Disney’s first princess, and while the discussion is simmering for now, it will only boil once more after both the House of Mouse and the right-wing outlet drop their adaptations.
How do you feel about these versions of Snow White? Which will you be seeing next year? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!