After a few turbulent years of self-discovery, Disney is now ready to play the hits with sequels, reboots and the company’s patented live-action remakes. And in 2025, director Marc Webb (500 days of summer, The Amazing Spiderman) will dare to rewrite authenticated history when his remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfsadapted from the first always The animated film produced in the USA is gracing cinema screens. The trailer for the film premiered on Friday at the D23 Expo 2024 and shows what star Rachel Zegler brings to the classic role.
Written by Greta Gerwig (Barbie) and Erin Cressida Wilson (secretary), Snow White aims to update the 1937 original while retaining all the iconography. Zegler, whom Steven Spielberg brought out of obscurity for his West Side Story Remake and showed her singing skills a second time in the recent The Hunger Games – The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakesdirects the musical film and will, yes, sing. The film is expected to be a mix of numbers like “Whistle While You Work” and new songs by the duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, best known for Dear Evan Hansen And the Hugh Jackman circus musical. Gal Gadot will face off against her as the evil queen, but it’s unclear if she’ll sing.
The dwarves Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy and Sneezy will also appear in the film, but will be brought to life through computer animation to make them closer to the designs of the original film. This has not exactly been well received. When the film went into production in 2022, Peter Dinklage, who has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, criticized Disney on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast for what he saw as supporting stereotypes.
“You’re still telling that damn backwards story about seven dwarves living in the cave. What the hell are you doing, man? Haven’t I done anything to advance the cause from my pulpit? I guess I’m not loud enough,” Dinklage told Maron.
The call prompted Disney to respond: “In order to avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have consulted with members of the dwarf community. We look forward to sharing more as the film moves into production after a long development period.”
Now the film is here and Disney hopes it will revel in Disney magic. We will see if Webb can pull it off when Snow White will be released in theaters on March 21, 2025.
