The world premiere of Disney's live-action Snow White movie takes place tonight, but it will not be the glitz and glam affair we're used to seeing when the Mouse House usually screens a new film for the first time.
Press have not been invited to interview the stars on the red carpet in favor of "a more celebratory, family-friendly afternoon event to match the tone and target audience for the film."
The real reason is believed to be down to "controversies" surrounding leads Rachel Zegler, who has been an outspoken supporter of Palestine and critic of President Donald Trump, and Gal Gadot, who has come to the defence of her home country of Israel.
Martin Klebba, who provides the voice of Grumpy in the new movie, has spoken about the subdued premiere during an interview with THR.
“It really isn’t going to be a red carpet,” says Klebba, who emphasizes that he is very proud of the movie and cannot wait for audiences to see it. “It’s going to be at the El Capitan [Theatre], which is cool. But it’s basically going to be a pre-party, watch the movie, and that’s it. There’s not going to be this whole hoopla of, ‘Disney’s first [frick]ing movie they ever made.’ Because of all this controversy, they’re afraid of the blowback from different people in society.”
You can check out some recent teasers, a clip and posters below.
Snow White's updated box office tracking points to a 3-day start of $53 million - $63 million. While this wouldn't usually be seen as a disastrous opening (especially if overseas numbers are stronger), for this particular movie, it simply might not be good enough.
A recent Forbes article revealed that Snow White's budget had ballooned to a whopping $269.4 million by the end of 2023 (current reports put it at $250M), which puts a lot of pressure on the movie to become a massive box office success.
This is just an early estimate, but if those numbers don't go up as we draw closer to the film's March release, Disney could have a major flop on its hands.
This project has been plagued by controversy since the very beginning, when Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage - who has nothing to do with the movie - called the decision to remake the animated classic "backwards" during a podcast interview.
A Disney spokesperson released a statement shortly after:
“To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community. We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”
Disney’s Snow White is directed by Marc Webb, written by Erin Cressida Wilson, and produced by Marc Platt, p.g.a., and Jared LeBoff, p.g.a., with Callum McDougall serving as executive producer. The film features all-new original songs from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and an original score composed by Jeff Morrow.
The film also stars Andrew Burnap as Jonathan, Andrew Barth Feldman as Dopey, Tituss Burgess as Bashful, Martin Klebba as Grumpy, Jason Kravits as Sneezy, George Salazar as Happy, Jeremy Swift as Doc, and Andrew Grotelueschen as Sleepy.
Snow White is scheduled to hit theaters on March 21. Do you plan on checking this one out on the big screen? Be sure to let us know in the comments section down below.