Snow White (2025 film)

Disney's Snow White, or simply Snow White, is a 2025 American musical fantasy film directed by Marc Webb and produced by Marc Platt Productions for Walt Disney Pictures. It is a live-action reimagining of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was based on the 1812 fairy tale "Snow White" by the Brothers Grimm. The film stars Rachel Zegler as the title character, a resilient princess who escapes assassination by her stepmother, the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot), and forms an alliance with seven magical characters and a rogue bandit named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) to reclaim her kingdom.
Plans for a Snow White remake were confirmed in October 2016, with Erin Cressida Wilson announced as a screenwriter. Webb entered talks to direct in May 2019 and was announced as director in September. Principal photography took place in the UK from March to July 2022, with additional reshoots took place in June 2024. The film was initially set to be released in March 2024 but faced delays due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Prior to its release, the film generated significant controversy regarding its color-blind casting, changes to the story, and the reimagining of the Seven Dwarfs. Additional backlash stemmed from lead actress Zegler’s public critiques of the original film and Donald Trump, as well as her and Gadot's opposing views on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, leading to calls for boycotts.
Snow White premiered at Alcázar of Segovia in Segovia, Spain, on March 12, 2025, before its theatrical release in the United States on March 21. It received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $168.3 million worldwide. With a production budget of $240–270 million, it is one of Disney's most expensive films.
A benevolent king and queen welcome their daughter during a snowstorm, naming her Snow White to honor the day. Years later, the queen falls ill and passes away. The king hastily remarries before mounting a campaign against an encroaching threat. When he does not return, the new queen usurps the throne, revealing herself as an enchantress whose vanity surpasses her beauty.
Under the Evil Queen's rule, subjects are either left destitute or conscripted into the royal guard. Snow White, meanwhile, is confined to the palace as a scullery maid. The Queen, fearing that Snow White's beauty will outshine her own, consults a Magic Mirror daily, asking it to name "the fairest one of all". The Mirror always responds in her favor, pleasing her.
One day, Snow White sees Jonathan, the cynical leader of a band of bandits, raiding the pantry. When he is sentenced to be tied to the gates, she frees him and gives him food. That same day, the Magic Mirror declares that Snow White is now the fairest. Enraged, the Queen orders the Royal Huntsman to take Snow White into the forest, kill her and bring her heart back in a jeweled box. The Huntsman instead warns Snow White of the Queen's intentions. At his urging, Snow White flees deep into the forest.
Woodland creatures lead Snow White to a secluded cottage, where she falls asleep. Later that night, she awakes to find herself confronted by the cottage's owners, seven magical creatures—Doc, Grumpy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Happy, and Dopey—who work in a diamond mine. The dwarfs take pity on her and agree to let her stay the night. Meanwhile, the Queen, having learned from the Magic Mirror that Snow White is still alive, imprisons the Huntsman before instigating a manhunt.
Snow White and Jonathan meet again in the forest and fend off the guards alongside the bandits. The two realize their feelings for each other before Jonathan departs to find the king, whom Snow White believes may still be alive. Jonathan is captured by the guards and imprisoned by the Queen, who deduces Snow White's whereabouts. Retreating to her secret chambers, she transforms into a peddler woman and creates a poisoned apple to curse Snow White with the Sleeping Death.
After the dwarfs leave for work, the Queen finds their cottage and tricks Snow White into eating the apple by saying she is an ally of Jonathan's. She then reveals to her stepdaughter that she killed her father. Snow White falls into the "Sleeping Death," and the Queen retreats to her castle. The dwarfs find her sleeping body upon returning. Having escaped, Jonathan arrives to discover her dead and mournfully kisses her. Snow White awakens and rallies the dwarfs and Jonathan's bandits to overthrow the Evil Queen where Dopey starts speaking.
Snow White confronts her stepmother, who forcefully goads her to take the throne, placing a diamond dagger into her hand. Snow White refuses to hurt her, instead reminding the people what the kingdom used to be like under her parents' rule. Moved by the memories and the princess' kindness, the guards stand up to the Queen and join the dwarfs, the bandits, the Huntsman, and the civilians. The Queen tries to attack Snow White, but the dwarfs and bandits defend her. The Magic Mirror tells the Queen that Snow White will always be fairer than her due to being kind and just. Snow White arrives to see the Queen destroying the Mirror, which is revealed to be the source of her powers. As a result, she turns into glass herself and disappears into a vortex while the Magic Mirror repairs itself.
A celebration is held as Snow White is named the new queen and justly rules the land.
Additionally, Hadley Fraser and Lorena Andrea appear as the Good King and the Good Queen, Snow White's parents. Appearing as Jonathan's team of seven bandits are George Appleby as Quigg, Colin Michael Carmichael as Farno, Samuel Baxter as Scythe, Jimmy Johnston as Finch, Dujonna Gift as Maple, Idriss Kargbo as Bingley, and Jaih Betote as Norwich. The royal guards consist of Adrian Bower as the captain of the guards, Felipe Bejarano as Guard Paul, Simeon Oakes as Guard Matthew, Joshmaine Joseph as Guard William, and Chike Chan as Guard Arthur.
On October 31, 2016, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Walt Disney Pictures was developing a live-action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with Marc Platt, an avid fan of the original film, signed on as lead producer and Erin Cressida Wilson being in talks to write the screenplay. Callum McDougall, in his third producing collaboration with Disney and Platt, serves as an executive producer. Disney had been considering a live-action Snow White film since the early 2000s and at one point planned on adapting the story as a martial arts film set in China.
On May 30, 2019, it was reported that Marc Webb was in talks to direct. In November 2021, Greta Gerwig was reported to be co-writing the screenplay. Gurinder Chadha was also strongly considered for the directing job. Wilson ultimately received sole credit for the screenplay, with Gerwig receiving off-screen Additional Literary Material credit alongside Jez Butterworth, Steven Levenson, Jeff Nathanson, Victoria Strouse, and Chris Weitz.
In June 2021, Rachel Zegler was cast in the titular role, and in November, Gal Gadot was cast as the Evil Queen. On December 7, 2021, during an interview with Extra, Zegler revealed that Snow White would be a lot "stronger" than the original. Zegler's casting was solidified through a "glowing recommendation" to Webb from Steven Spielberg, who directed Zegler as María in his 2021 film adaptation of West Side Story. A new casting search was announced for an actress to star as a younger version of Snow White and Emilia Faucher was cast. On January 12, 2022, it was announced that Andrew Burnap was cast as a new character named Jonathan in the lead male role, replacing the character of The Prince. At the 2022 Denver Fan Expo, Martin Klebba revealed that he would be portraying Grumpy; Klebba previously played similar dwarf roles in prior productions based on the "Snow White" fairy tale: in the 2001 made-for-television film Snow White: The Fairest of Them All as Friday, and in the 2012 fantasy comedy Mirror Mirror as Butcher. Colin Michael Carmichael appears. In February 2025, it was announced that Andrew Barth Feldman, Tituss Burgess, Jason Kravits, George Salazar, Jeremy Swift, and Andy Grotelueschen were all cast as the remaining members of the Seven Dwarfs, with Salazar and Grotelueschen both making their feature film acting debuts.
Filming for Snow White was originally set to begin in March 2020 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Los Angeles, California, but it was delayed to July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2021, it was announced that filming would take place in the United Kingdom from March to July 2022. Principal photography began on March 7, 2022. A fire damaged the production set on March 15 at Pinewood Studios; the stage was under construction when a tree reportedly caught on fire, leading to a huge blaze. A source from Disney confirmed that "no filming was underway". The shooting schedule was also reconfigured for Zegler to travel to Los Angeles to present at the 94th Academy Awards ceremony on March 27, in support of her West Side Story colleagues. While Zegler was attending the ceremony, Gadot began filming her scenes. Unlike in the original, her character sings and dances. On April 22, Gadot confirmed that she had completed filming her scenes, much later adding that she enjoyed playing the role of the first Disney villain and that she was able to make a more dramatic role by changing her voice due to the film being a musical. On July 13, Zegler revealed that filming had wrapped. Mandy Moore, known for her work on La La Land, choreographed the musical sequences.
Disney was unsatisfied with the film's original cut and ordered reshoots, which took place in June 2024. The resulting cut of the film replaced some of the originally intended ending with a new scene involving the Evil Queen and the Magic Mirror. The track "Snow White Returns" was also a late addition to the film. Much of the plotline involving the bandits was excised, as was a song titled "Hidden in My Heart", which was described by The New York Times as a "second-act...tear-jerker sung by one of the dwarfs."
Moving Picture Company, Framestore, Day For Nite, Passion Pictures, Vitality Visual Effects, Cheap Shot VFX, Lola Visual Effects and Crafty Apes provided the visual effects.
Songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who previously wrote the lyrics for two new songs for Disney's 2019 remake of Aladdin, wrote new songs alongside Jack Feldman as additional lyricist, including a new "I Want" song for Snow White, titled "Waiting on a Wish". They also wrote a new "villain song" for the Evil Queen, titled "All Is Fair", a new love duet for Snow White and Jonathan titled "A Hand Meets a Hand" (written in collaboration with Lizzy McAlpine), and a new opening ensemble number titled "Good Things Grow". The film features four of the eight songs from the original film by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey: "Heigh-Ho", "Whistle While You Work", "The Silly Song" and "Someday My Prince Will Come", the final of which is heard only instrumentally in the underscore due to the plot changes. In January 2025, it was revealed that Jeff Morrow had composed the score. Dave Metzger, a frequent collaborator on the music for films made by Walt Disney Animation Studios, served as orchestrator for the songs. On March 4, 2025, it was announced that the soundtrack album would be released on March 14 by Walt Disney Records, with "Waiting on a Wish" released to the public that same day as the lead single. A deluxe edition of the album was released on March 20, 2025, featuring instrumental versions of the songs and Morrow's underscore.
On September 9, 2022, during Disney's 2022 D23 Expo presentation, a 30-second first-look teaser as well as first-look images were previewed. There were quick flashes of several major settings, including Snow White's cottage in the woods, the intricately designed interior of the Queen's castle, and the moss-covered forest. There were also short glimpses of Gadot as the Evil Queen questioning her magic mirror, Zegler as Snow White, and Snow White's hand falling with the poisoned apple toppling along with her. Gadot said about her role that playing the Evil Queen was "very different than what [she] had done before. [She is] used to playing the other end of where the heart should be", but she found it very "delightful" to "get under her skin". The title logo was also revealed.
On October 27, 2023, Disney released the official first image of the film with Zegler as Snow White as well as Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy. Zegler confirmed that there is a lot of CGI, which made her feel "nervous". Footage of Gadot as the Evil Queen was shown at the 2024 CinemaCon. Disney presented new footage and a behind-the-scenes look during the 2024 CineEurope. The 2024 D23 Expo presented a sneak preview with a clip of the musical number "Whistle While You Work" along with the first trailer.
The teaser trailer for Snow White was released on YouTube in August 2024 and became the most disliked teaser for a film trailer on the platform, garnering an estimated nearly one million dislikes and over 82,000 likes within three weeks, according to available data from browser extensions that display an approximation of YouTube dislikes.
The first full trailer debuted at D23 Brazil in November 2024 and was attached to select theatrical screenings of Universal Pictures's Wicked before eventually being released onto YouTube on December 3, 2024. Stuart Heritage of The Guardian criticized the visual effects for the animals and dwarves. He said the dwarves "look like someone has snuck into Disneyland, grabbed the statues from Snow White's Enchanted Wish and wrapped them in human flesh, as a serial killer would with a gift for their mother" and "like someone has shaved the Sonic the Hedgehog from that first Sonic the Hedgehog trailer that everyone hated." Polygon's Petrana Radulovic wrote, "The new Snow White looks like it's putting in more of a plot, likely one where our plucky heroine will stand up to her despotic tyrant of a stepmother in a YA dystopian plotline out of 2014. Maybe it'll work, storywise! Visually, though, everything seems like it's working on the same budget as ABC Family's Once Upon a Time." An international trailer featuring Snow White's origins was released on December 19, 2024. A featurette showing a behind-the-scenes look and how it will honor the legacy of the 1937 film was released on February 20, 2025. The press tour began in Tokyo on March 5, 2025, with Zegler joining her Japanese dub counterpart Sakura Kiryu to perform "Waiting on a Wish" live for the first time. On March 10, 2025, the day tickets for the film went on sale, Disney released new posters, a TV spot, and a film clip. Zegler later appeared on the March 17, 2025 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! to give the first live television performance of "Waiting on a Wish".
At least $70 million was spent on marketing, which, combined with the main production budget, gave Disney a total investment of $350 million for the film.
During the 2022 D23 Expo Presentation, it was announced that Snow White would be released in 2024. On September 15, 2022, the film was announced to have a release date of March 22, 2024. However, in October 2023, it was delayed a year to March 21, 2025, with the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike cited as the rationale for the delay. The theatrical release will also include engagements in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, ScreenX and D-Box.
The European premiere took place on March 12, 2025, at Spain's Alcázar of Segovia, which inspired the castle in the original film, to give the film a more elaborate showing at a "fairytale" venue. A Hollywood premiere without regular red-carpet press took place at the El Capitan Theatre on March 15, 2025, due to the controversies surrounding Zegler and Gadot's political views. In Gadot's honor, the film's first premiere in Israel took place on March 19, 2025, at the Planet Cinema in Rishon LeZion, with prominent figures from Israel attending.
As of April 6, 2025, Snow White has grossed $77.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $90.9 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $168.3 million. The Hollywood Reporter surmised that the film would need to gross $500 million to reach its "box office safety net". It has been projected to lose $115 million.
In the United States and Canada, Snow White was released alongside The Alto Knights and Ash, and was projected to gross $45–55 million from 4,200 theaters in its opening weekend. It was initially projected to gross $63–70 million, with analysts comparing this projection to the $69.4 million opening of Maleficent (2014) and believing that the film would overcome its controversies and fare well financially, given there being no strong competition against it on opening weekend, but in late February, projections were lowered. The film made $16 million on its first day, including an estimated $3.5 million in Thursday previews. It went on to debut to $42.2 million, slightly below projections but still managing to top the box office due to little competition; the low opening was attributed by The Hollywood Reporter to "so-so audience scores and underwhelming reviews". Business Insider reported that the film's behind-the-scenes controversies likely had little impact on its box-office performance, while Deadline reported that the film's financial performance could primarily be attributed to its marketing, the source material failing to resonate with younger audiences, and negative buzz surrounding the film's visuals. In its second weekend, the film made $14.3 million (dropping 66%), finishing second behind newcomer A Working Man.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 40% of 247 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "Snow White is hardly a grumpy time at the movies thanks to Rachel Zegler's luminous star turn, but its bashful treatment of the source material along with some dopey stylistic choices won't make everyone happy, either." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 50 out of 100, based on 51 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an average rating of three out of five stars, with 43% saying they would definitely recommend it. The Hollywood Reporter noted that Disney's previous theatrical remakes earned CinemaScores around the "A" range.
Katcy Stephan of Variety lauded Zegler's performance, praising her as a "shining supernova" and her character as having "newfound depth through her fervent desire to become the leader her father believed she could be." Siddhant Adlakha of IGN called the film "the best Disney live-action remake in a decade" and said that it "adapts the broad strokes of the original, while fleshing out its themes." Brian Truitt of USA Today wrote that it "finds modern relevance amid the old material." Patrick Gomez of Entertainment Weekly described the film saying: "Disney's best live-action remake is the fairest of them all."
Nicholas Barber of the BBC wrote, "The story is cluttered, the tone is muddled, and the pacing is off. Again, that doesn't make the film a disaster. In some ways, the identity crisis is what makes it worth seeing." Witney Seibold of /Film wrote, "It's hollow, but unlike some more recent remakes, it seems to have thoughts in its head." David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote of the premise, "If that sounds like the standard female-empowerment template that's almost obligatory in contemporary fairy-tale retreads, it more or less is. But the incandescent Zegler sells it with conviction and heart." Daniel Bayer of AwardsWatch wrote, "[Marc] Webb gets the job done with minimal muss and fuss, and whenever Zegler is onscreen, the film manages to conjure up some of that good old Disney magic." Dan Rubins of Slant called it "a fairly paint-by-numbers exercise in updating a quintessential but unquestionably quaint property for modern consumption." Amy Nicholson of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film is "a fascinating case study in today's impossible contradictions—a magic mirror reflecting the tensions of the current times." Neil Minow of RogerEbert.com wrote, "Some parts of the film work better than others, but none of it has the sweetness and imagination of the animated feature. This Snow White is not the fairest of them all. It's just, well, fair."
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it "exhaustingly awful", with "tiresome pseudo-progressive additions", and criticized Zegler and Gadot's roles as "the dullest performances of their lives". Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post wrote, "The timeless classic, a groundbreaking achievement for animation, has been turned into another pointless and awkward live-action automaton that vanishes from your mind the second it's over." Tyler Taing of DiscussingFilm wrote, "Aside from Rachel Zegler's powerhouse performance, there is little else to enjoy from this clumsy, poorly conceived, and cynical live-action Disney remake. Even Gal Gadot's hilariously bad line reads are not worth the trip to the theater." Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist wrote, "While interjecting its social commentary, Snow White otherwise tackles much of the same ideas—the notions of true love, the power of friendship, and the triumph of good over evil—but it's all put together in a very familiar and garish package." David Fear of Rolling Stone said it "may not be the worst live-action adaptation of an animated touchstone, though it's a strong contender for its blandest."
By April 2025, over 91% of reviews of Snow White on IMDb were one star, which led to the site flagging the film due to concerns of review bombing.
The casting of Zegler, an actress of Latin descent, as Snow White drew criticism, as the character is described in the original material as having skin "as white as snow". Zegler responded to the comments in January 2022, saying that Snow White is popular in Spanish-speaking countries and having a Latina in such a role is rare, so she was proud to be cast. In August 2023, it was revealed that another Latina actress, Renata Vaca, was one of two finalists in the casting process for the role of Snow White. Vaca stated that the casting call for the role of Snow White was "open to all ethnic groups" and that the first phase of auditioning consisted of singing a Disney Princess song. In October 2024, Zegler revealed that the character would be given the name Snow White after she and her parents survived a snowstorm to remind her of her resilience, which Zegler claimed was a plotline used in another version of the fairy tale.
In January 2022, actor Peter Dinklage, who has a form of dwarfism and has played dwarfish characters in his career, commented on the upcoming live-action Snow White remake, dismissing it as a "backward story". In response to Dinklage's comments, Disney stated that "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". Numerous other actors with dwarfism like Dylan "Hornswoggle" Postl, Jeff Brooks, and Katrina Kemp responded negatively to Dinklage's comments, feeling he was unduly speaking on their behalf and costing them roles.
In July 2023, footage of the production from Berkshire revealed that the depiction of the Seven Dwarfs had been reimagined, consisting of one actor with dwarfism along with six other non-dwarf actors of varying ethnicity, six males and one female portraying the associated set of seven individuals, who were originally all portrayed as supernatural beings from German folklore, not actual human beings. After initially denying reports that these images depicted the actual film production, Disney later confirmed that they did indeed depict the production, with stand-in actors substituting for the leads (the already confirmed actor Martin Klebba not appearing in said footage). The decision to reimagine the characters as such was criticised by social media sources as being overly politically correct, as well as potentially taking away acting opportunities from the dwarfism community.
Jackass cast member Jason "Wee Man" Acuña criticized Disney for not casting dwarf actors and expressed disappointment about the changes. Acuña said "You're replacing jobs that people could have as little people. It's for dwarfs. Why are you hiring 'Snow White and the seven average people'?" Dylan Postl also disagreed with Dinklage's view, echoed Acuña's sentiments, and defended the portrayal of the dwarf characters in the animated film. In October 2023, coinciding with an announcement of the delay, Disney unveiled a first-look image, which included the Seven Dwarfs, all of which are CGI characters made to look similar to their appearances in the 1937 film.
The seven characters of Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy are never referred to as "dwarfs" in the dialogue of the film, nor in any Disney official promotional material.
Zegler attracted criticism over statements expressing disapproval with aspects of the original film, including the Prince and Snow White's characterization. In 2022, Zegler criticized "jokes" about the new Snow White character being "PC", saying that the cartoon was old and needed a refresh to give the character "a function beyond 'Someday My Prince Will Come'". She also spoke about story changes at the 2022 D23 Expo:
In response to her comments, many rebuked her for making Snow White "more feminist", while others criticized her for misinterpreting feminism, with accusations of promoting the girlboss archetype or maligning women that seek traditional feminine roles or are uninterested in power or leadership. Ashten Stein, a brand strategist, felt that Zegler's statements made it appear that she had not received media training for marketing. Ultimately, critics inferred and claimed that Zegler disliked the original film. David Hand, whose father of the same name co-directed the original animated film, criticized the remake, describing it as "insulting" and suggesting that his father and Walt Disney would be "turning in their graves". This controversy prompted conservative media organization The Daily Wire to announce its own live-action adaptation of the original fairy tale, titled Snow White and the Evil Queen, which was originally to star actress and Daily Wire commentator Brett Cooper as Snow White for a release in 2025 in an effort to compete with Disney's version. However, following Cooper's departure from The Daily Wire in December 2024, no updates on the production of this version were given since.
Zegler addressed the backlash to her comments in a Variety interview in October 2024, saying the film would still involve a love story, and that "it made me sad that it was taken in such a way [...] It can be very upsetting when things get taken out of context or jokes don't land".
In August 2024, after the teaser trailer for Snow White premiered, BDS and the PACBI called for a boycott of the film due to Gadot's Israeli military service and pro-Israel stance. The boycott calls grew as Gadot and Zegler openly took opposing sides on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Gadot supporting Israel and Zegler supporting Palestine. Before the film's release, Gadot received death threats, attributed to her stance, which led Disney to provide additional security for her. Despite the controversies, Gadot and Zegler had a positive relationship with each other during the film's production.
Another call to boycott was made by Republican supporters in the aftermath of the 2024 United States presidential election, as Zegler posted "Fuck Donald Trump" and attacked those who voted to re-elect him, saying, "May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace." Zegler later issued a public apology, saying she did not intend any harm with her message while offering a call for peace.
Several Arab organizations and individuals opposed to Israeli policies launched a digital campaign against the film, particularly targeting Gadot due to her military service. Groups from Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Tunisia, UAE, and Egypt, called for a regional boycott, arguing that screening the film supports the Israeli occupation and the IDF's treatment of Palestinians. This stance has been viewed by some as antisemitic.
Producer Marc Platt's son Jonah Platt attributed Snow White's underperformance in its opening week partly to Zegler's social media post supporting Palestine. Box-office analysts largely disagreed with the view that the film's underperformance could be attributed to political controversies and instead attributed it to the film's failure to resonate with critics and audiences. Some actors and musicians have defended Zegler's comments.
Production on Disney's live-action remake of Tangled was suspended indefinitely in April 2025, in the wake of the critical and financial underperformance of Snow White. It has not yet been determined whether or not Tangled will resume production at some future date, or undergo any changes to its crew or script.