On Aug. 12, 2024, three days after Rachel Zegler hit the stage at Disney’s D23 fan event to introduce the first official trailer of “Snow White,” she thanked supporters effusively in an X post for driving the teaser to 120 million views in 24 hours. One minute later, she added an afterthought in the same thread: “and always remember, free palestine.”
That addendum, which amassed 8.8 million views, nearly four times the number for the initial post, quickly made the rounds, with many inside the studio expressing shock that the “Snow White” star would commingle the promotion of its $270 million tentpole with any kind of political statement. A Disney executive raised the studio’s concerns with Zegler’s team, while the film’s producer Marc Platt flew to New York to speak directly with her. But the actress, whose relationship with the studio began to unravel in 2022 during a contentious “West Side Story” awards season campaign and continued as she trashed the beloved original “Snow White,” stood her ground, and the post remained. Behind the scenes, death threats toward Zegler’s co-star Gal Gadot, who is Israeli, spiked, and Disney had to pay for additional security for the mother of four.
“She didn’t understand the repercussions of her actions as far as what that meant for the film, for Gal, for anyone,” says one insider.
Three months later, following the presidential election, Zegler posted “Fuck Donald Trump” and “May Trump supporters … never know peace” on Instagram. Disney had had enough, given that the star was signaling to half the potential audience of an already troubled film plagued by costly reshoots to stay home. Platt made the case again to Zegler. After a back and forth, she began working with a social media guru paid for by Disney to vet any posts before the film’s March 21 bow. Disney declined comment. Zegler did not respond to a request for comment.
Now that the film’s dismal opening weekend — $87 million worldwide — is in the rearview mirror, Burbank brass are evaluating what went wrong. To put “Snow White’s” global box office haul into perspective, it’s about $34 million less than Warner Bros.’ “Joker: Folie à Deux” in October but with a bigger budget by $70 million.
“You can’t say that a live-action remake of the most iconic film in the vault that cost [$270] million and has been reshot multiple times opening to $50 million is OK. The math does not work. That movie should be a billion-dollar movie,” said an executive at a rival studio when the film was tracking for a $45 million-$55 million domestic opening. (It ended up at below even the low-end figure, at $43 million.)
The Disney-Zegler standoffs underscore the challenge Hollywood studios face as they attempt to rein in stars who court controversy on social media. For her part, Gadot kept her comments on geopolitics limited to offering support for the civilian hostages taken during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and did not mix that message with the promotion of the film. Zegler had already strained nerves at both the studio and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners when she complained on social media that she wasn’t invited to the 2022 Oscars as the star of best picture nominee “West Side Story,” a film distributed by Disney. Sources say she had just begun production on “Snow White” in London and Sean Bailey, then-president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, declined to cut her loose for the telecast. After Zegler aired her grievances publicly, the Academy provided her with a ticket even though she wasn’t nominated. (Bailey was gone from the job by February 2024.)
Months later at D23, she criticized the original 1937 “Snow White,” noting that the prince “literally stalks” the heroine. One top agent says that was the moment that Disney allowed Zegler to control the narrative: “The first time she shoots her mouth off, you nip it in the bud.” Instead, the studio said nothing, and purists began to revolt. And as time went on, Disney became increasingly loath to weigh in on anyone’s speech considering that the studio was sued in 2024 by actress Gina Carano, who claims she was fired from “The Mandalorian” for voicing her opinions on hot-button issues.
“They say all press is good press, but in ‘Snow White’s’ case, they were unabashedly wrong,” says box office analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. “Too much negative controversy surrounded this film for years, and it didn’t help that the reviews were subpar, likely rendering this latest live-action adventure to D+ for many potential ticket buyers. A possible saving grace? A feeble marketplace where ‘Snow White’ could stay awhile — as many family films have — despite the lackluster debut.”
Many additional factors contributed to the film’s woes, including a COVID-related production delay and a fire on set, while the actors strike scuttled some reshoots. Meanwhile, Disney’s live-action movies, which were once reliable box office draws, have looked shakier in recent years, with the likes of “Dumbo” and “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” bombing and “Peter Pan & Wendy” getting shipped to Disney+.
Still, there was no bad blood between the two “Snow White” leads despite press reports to the contrary. Sources say the actresses got along well during production, and things only got awkward during the run-up to release. Case in point: Zegler referred to Gadot as “a professional pageant queen” in one Instagram reply that followed their joint appearance as presenters at the Oscars this month, considered a dismissive way to describe a fellow actress.
Some observers say Disney fueled the perception of a feud by scheduling the actresses for separate events during junketing. At the March 15 premiere, which eschewed traditional red-carpet interviews and opted for photos only, the two stars were mostly kept apart. Inside the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, Zegler sat two rows ahead of Gadot and her family.
But by that point, Disney had given up hope that the film could overcome the backlash that had been brewing like a fairy tale cauldron for years.
From Variety US