The last time we got a blockbuster reinvention of Snow White, a marriage was ruined and a flop sequel was born, but Disney’s upcoming live-action remake is facing an entirely different set of issues.
Following on in the footsteps of far too many recent big budget do-overs, director Marc Webb’s fantastical epic has been beset by off-screen woes, which admittedly have been largely restricted to the deepest and darkest corners of social media.
If it isn’t star Rachel Zegler repeatedly coming under heavy fire for her perceived disdain of the animated classic and its thematic inspirations, then it’s the lack of dwarfs turning into a debate so heated that Peter Dinklage was dragged into its orbit and named as a culprit behind the major creative change, and we haven’t even mentioned the son of the 1937 original’s director weighing in with his scathing two cents.
As it stands, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid are the only titles to roll off the production line that cost in excess of $200 million, and the latter’s solid but still relatively underwhelming run at the box office ensured the profit margins were nowhere near as robust as they should have been or needed to be. A report from Forbes has listed Snow White at a cost of $209.3 million, placing even more pressure on what’s now the third most-expensive Mouse House remake of all-time.
It’s debatable as to whether or not the slow-burning negativity will actually end up having a tangible impact, but looking at the head-scratching fury to have emerged so far, it’s way too early to completely rule it out. Then again, looking at the disastrous run of flops to have plagued the corporation’s big screen heavy hitters recently, it’s not an unrealistic proposition.
