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Credit: DisneyLast year, Rachel Zegler drew crowds in London with her stage performance as Eva Perón in Evita, directed by Jamie Lloyd. A role for which she has been nominated for an Olivier Award recently. Yet the actor’s most recent film role—Disney’s live-action take on Snow White—continues to generate discussion almost a year after its theatrical release.
Disney’s Snow White (2025) concluded its theatrical run in April 2025, following a challenging debut at the box office and mixed reactions from critics. The remake of Disney’s 1937 animated classic faced obstacles throughout its rollout and ultimately became one of the studio’s weaker-performing live-action adaptations in recent years.
Originally slated for release in 2024, the production experienced several delays before opening in theaters on March 21, 2025. Despite the additional time in development, the film arrived with high expectations and ongoing online debate.
Much of that attention focused on Zegler, who stepped into the role of the famous princess. Conversations intensified after interviews from 2022 resurfaced in which she described her interpretation of Snow White as more independent than the character portrayed in the original animated feature.
During those interviews, Zegler explained that her version of Snow White would not center on finding true love or waiting for rescue from a prince, even remarking that the original prince seemed like a stalker. The remarks prompted criticism from fans who felt the updated direction strayed too far from the story’s roots.
Screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson (The Girl on the Train) was tasked with reworking the story for modern audiences. While some viewers appreciated the attempt to reframe the classic narrative, others objected to several creative decisions, including the handling of the dwarfs and changes to the overall tone of the fairy tale.
Zegler later addressed the criticism, noting that the reaction may stem from audiences’ emotional attachment to the 1937 film. That said, in 2026, the actress reflected on the casting discourse, telling Harper’s Bazaar that it was “confusing” to be at the center of that conversation following backlash about her West Side Story (2021) and Snow White roles. Zegler said she would “refuse to assimilate for anybody else’s comfort.”
Off-screen developments also complicated the film’s rollout. Reports circulated about political disagreements between Zegler and co-star Gal Gadot, who portrays the Evil Queen. Around the same time, Disney scaled back red carpet premieres and promotional events in the United States and Europe.
Variety examined the situation in detail, highlighting a particularly contentious moment involving Zegler’s “Free Palestine” post on X (formerly Twitter), shared shortly after the trailer premiered. The message appeared not long after the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel.
Gadot, an Israeli-born actor and former member of the Israel Defense Forces, publicly voiced support for Israel, which contributed to the growing conversation surrounding the film’s release.
From a financial perspective, expectations were cautious before the opening weekend. Early tracking suggested the film could debut around $53 million domestically against a reported budget exceeding $270 million. When it premiered, Snow White earned around $42 million in North America.
By the end of its run, the movie had grossed $205,679,463 worldwide, including $87,203,963 domestically and $118,475,500 internationally, according to Box Office Mojo. The result fell well short of what the production needed to break even. As Forbes explained: “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.”
The story changed somewhat once the movie reached streaming. Snow White debuted on Disney+ on June 11 and quickly climbed the platform’s rankings. “According to data from FlixPatrol, which charts popularity on streaming services, the movie is currently the No. 1 film on Disney+,” Comic Book wrote at the time.
Nearly four months after its theatrical release, the film also appeared on Nielsen’s streaming rankings, which track viewership across platforms. During its debut period, Snow White placed fifth on the “Top 10 Movies” list alongside titles such as Straw (2025) on Netflix and The Accountant 2 (2025) on Amazon Prime Video, with 581 million minutes watched.
The numbers suggest that curiosity surrounding the film continued once it arrived on streaming. And now, almost one year on from the theatrical release of the movie that lost Disney millions, the final chapter of its story has come to a close. Ahead of the 98th Academy Awards, the annual Razzie Awards (the anti-Oscars) took place, and Disney’s Snow White took home multiple awards.
While its haul paled in comparison to Rich Lee’s War of the Worlds (2025) remake, Disney’s Snow White took home the award for Worst Supporting Actor for the seven artificial dwarfs, as well as Worst Screen Combo for Zegler’s Snow White and the dwarfs. The Razzies may not be the most-welcome of accolades during the busy awards season, but they do draw interest, and this is one way for Disney to end its live-action Snow White journey.
In the movie, Zegler and Gadot were joined in the cast by 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 Turnaround With Lilo & Stitch
While Snow White struggled to connect in theaters, another live-action remake from Disney found far stronger results. Lilo & Stitch (2025), originally planned as a Disney+ release, shifted to a full theatrical launch after early tracking indicated strong interest.
As Deadline reported before the film’s opening weekend, “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.”
The film exceeded those projections during its Memorial Day weekend debut, bringing in nearly $183 million domestically and $361 million worldwide, according to The Walt Disney Company’s late May press release. Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, the live-action remake eventually climbed to $1.038 billion globally.
Next up to face the live-action trials is Moana (2026).
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