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Credit: DisneyThere’s a chance Disney’s partnership with Rachel Zegler might be far from over.
In March 2025, The Walt Disney Company will finally unveil its long-contested live-action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot of West Side Story and Wonder Woman fame, respectively, as Snow White and the Evil Queen, Disney’s Snow White from director Marc Webb has never known peace since its production began.
With a bloated budget nearing $300 million, Disney has a big ask of Snow White to recoup its finances. Without knowing the backstory of this remake, that may seem like an easy feat. The retelling of Disney’s very own first animated feature film, released 87 years after it debuted, surely holds box office weight, right? Right?
Over the last few years, Disney’s Snow White–which is written by the beloved Greta Gerwig and The Girl on the Train‘s Erin Cressida Wilson–has garnered much attention, and never for positive reasons.
From Zegler’s casting as the titular princess to her later comments regarding the original movie, Snow White has been a lightning rod for discourse. The debut of the teaser image and subsequent trailers only ignited the unrest further, and, to some, it may seem that this movie is too far gone to save.
Disney themselves haven’t held the movie in high regard, either. In their last quarterly earnings report, Disney completely omitted the movie from its anticipated 2025 release lineup.
Instead, the House of Mouse focused on Marvel movies like Captain America: Brave New World and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and the Snow White follow-up remake, Lilo & Stitch. It doesn’t take a genius seeing Lilo & Stitch‘s already robust promotional campaign to notice the drastic difference in Disney’s delivery of the films.
Of course, Disney wasn’t the only one aiming to adapt Snow White this year. In response to Disney’s so-called “wokeness,” conservative outlet, The Daily Wire was set to release its own take on the fairytale in the form of Snow White and the Evil Queen, starring Brett Cooper as the titular heroine. However, the latest on that remake is that Cooper has since departed the project.
Despite how many may see Zegler and how some may believe her relationship with Disney to be tarnished following her resurfaced D23 comments about 1937’s Snow White, a new report claims that she could be jumping the Disney princess ship following Snow White‘s debut to something altogether different.
Disney’s Phantom Movie
It was in September 2024 that the Phantom Disney+ movie was revealed.
“EXCLUSIVE: Disney+ is in early development on Phantom, a YA movie reimagination of classic novel “The Phantom of the Opera” by Gaston Leroux, sources tell Deadline,” Deadline wrote at the time. “The project hails from Disney Branded Entertainment and Kenny Ortega, who has led two major Disney franchises with High School Musical and The Descendants.”
The outlet suggests that Phantom could become a franchise akin to The Descendants. While few details have surfaced since the announcement, a new report claims a very well-known name is in line for the lead role of Christine in the Disney+ movie.
“According to scooper [My Time To Shine Hello], Rachel Zegler (Snow White, West Side Story, Shazam! Fury of the Gods) is being eyed to play Christine, the object of the titular Opera Ghost’s obsession,” Comic Book Movie wrote on MTTSH’s claims. “Whether this means she’s actually in talks for the role or simply someone the studio is interested in is not clear.”
Zegler is no stranger to the musical movie arena, having gained international recognition in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021) and her upcoming appearance in Snow White–even her role as Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023) was musical in nature.
How do you feel about this casting rumor? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!