Have the endless Snow White controversies lowered the chances of success for the Disney live-action film?

Disney's upcoming live-action feature film Snow White has generated quite the buzz among fans, as its controversies and pre-release criticisms have made things doubtful for the film's success. Early predictions in terms of numbers have dropped days before the release.

Based on Disney's most loved and first animated project, Snow White features Rachel Zegler in the titular role with Gal Gadot portraying the Evil Queen. Directed by Mark Webb, it brings to life the story of Snow White, who was the first Disney Princess, and a beloved one at that, telling the story of an evil stepmother, seven dwarves and the magic of a true love's kiss.

Box office predictions for the film earlier were around $63 and $70 million for its opening, but the said numbers have drastically dropped even lower in the wake of the film's backlash. Box Office Theory's founder and owner, Shawn Robbins, projected that the film will debut at domestic theaters with an opening budget of between $30 million and $40 million. According to some other estimates, the film will earn between $45 and $55 million in North America and an additional $55 million worldwide. Snow White was made on a budget of $270 million.

Social media is currently ablaze with neutral early reviews of the film, with many praising Zegler's performance. The film has currently made its debut on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 47%.

What is the controversy surrounding the Snow White film?

Much of the film's criticism stems from a knot of Rachel Zegler interviews where the actress has been less than kind towards the original film's premise, criticizing its plot of the love story and adding that the new version of the princess will not be saved by any prince.

"The original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so. There's a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! Weird. So we didn't do that this time. But it's really not about her love story at all, which is really, really wonderful."

More criticism centers around her ethnicity, as Zegler's Latin background does not align with the princess' "white as snow" depiction in the tale. Speaking of which the actress has said in an interview,

“People are making these jokes about ours being the PC Snow White, where it’s like, yeah, it is — because it needed that.”

More criticism has followed the film's exclusion of real dwarf actors and using CGI for the seven dwarves. As a result of all the backlash, Disney opted for a scaled-back premiere for the film, limiting press on site while the cast and crew attended.

Snow White is all set to release on 21 March 2025.