TP2000
Well-Known Member
Really?! I'd be interested in seeing that, so long as they keep the jazzy soundtrack based on the original. It was fabulous.
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Disney (and others) at the Box Office - Current State of Affairs
- Thread starter Disney Analyst
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Really?! I'd be interested in seeing that, so long as they keep the jazzy soundtrack based on the original. It was fabulous.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
But the basis of your objection to Zegler’s casting was that a non-white (of the Northern European variety) actor shouldn’t be playing a Germanic princess. The same objection would have to hold for Brandy.Because it was a made for TV movie that was all done on purpose. Everyone in that one was mixed up racially, and it came off as genuine and delightful. And in 1997 it hadn't been done before. It was fresh and fun. But it also wasn't supposed to be a literal retelling of the story. It was an upbeat new twist, in living color. It didn't read as cringe, it read as fun.
(Oh, I'd forgotten that Bernadette Peters was in that too! I've always thought she was fantastic!)
If Disney had already succumbed to Woke in 2015 when they faithfully retold the Cinderella story in live action, but had used a Black actress as the lead role while the rest of her European family and community had stayed white, that would have seemed cringey and dumb.
Don’t worry, I wasn’t expecting you to actually explain the inconsistency in your position; I merely wanted to draw attention to it.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Yes, I'm aware of the various boxes one can check on the census forms.
I'm talking about using it in a sentence, out loud in conversation or in written text. In the past few decades of living in the Southwest USA, I have never heard anyone say something like "Well, my family was White Latino, so my mom always made pozole on weekends"
But then, I've never heard any Latino person ever describe themselves at "Latinx" either. I've only heard that word spoken by well-meaning but cringey white ladies. Although if I hung out in faculty lounges, I'd probably hear it even more.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
What did I do ?
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
It’s there in my post!
erasure fan1
Well-Known Member
I remember it had it's detractors as well, but nothing compared to this. But I think the biggest difference is the stage. By that I mean, Cinderella was a made for tv thing. If snow white was a made for D+, I don't believe it garners anywhere near this much attention. I would guess the attention dies off like peter pan and wendy did. By making it a major release with a huge budget, it naturally puts a much larger spotlight on it.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I think that’s certainly part of it, but I also think the discourse surrounding these issues has become much more rancorous.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
I think the issue there is that you are trying to play Gotcha and draw an absolute parallel to 1997's TV Cinderella (which was great!) to the big budget live action remakes that Disney has been doing the past decade or so.
The live action remakes are thought of by most of the audience as the beloved animation come to life. So when you race swap a Princess or three, it comes off weird and forced and cringey. It's just a gut instinct in people to know someone did that on purpose just to make themselves look cool among their peers.
Now if the audience is in the wrong here, and we aren't supposed to consider the live action remakes as the beloved animation come to life, then I guess you could blame the audience for not getting it. But if I were Disney, I wouldn't spend $270 Million on a movie that the audience isn't going to get.
If I were spending $270 Million on a product for sale and needed to get to $700 Million in sales just to break even, I would try very hard to offer the product the audience understood and wanted to see. In this case, Disney clearly didn't do that. Hardly anyone wants to see Snow White this month.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
The irony is that you’re actually agreeing with those who claim that race is a major factor in why people object to Zegler’s casting (which I think is true) and why they’re staying away from the film (which I don’t think is true).
Farerb
Well-Known Member
I recently watched Brandy's Cinderella (Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella). Not my favorite adaptation of Cinderella. It actually was adapted twice before. One with Julie Andrews and another with Lesley Ann Warren. It also received a Broadway adaptation 12 years ago.
Brandy's is considered the best version. One of the issues with this adaptation is that they gave Cinderella her signature blue dress (even though it was actually silver in Disney's animated film but everyone mistakes it for blue because of merchandise) but all of the other dresses in the ball were either blue or purple or teal so Cinderella doesn't really stand out.
I'm actually surprised no studio considered adapting Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella to the big screen. Not even Disney.
My Cinderella ranking:
1. Walt Disney's Cinderella.
2. Ever After
3. Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella
4. Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella with Brandy
5. The Slipper and the Rose
Brandy's is considered the best version. One of the issues with this adaptation is that they gave Cinderella her signature blue dress (even though it was actually silver in Disney's animated film but everyone mistakes it for blue because of merchandise) but all of the other dresses in the ball were either blue or purple or teal so Cinderella doesn't really stand out.
I'm actually surprised no studio considered adapting Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella to the big screen. Not even Disney.
My Cinderella ranking:
1. Walt Disney's Cinderella.
2. Ever After
3. Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella
4. Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella with Brandy
5. The Slipper and the Rose
erasure fan1
Well-Known Member
No doubt. Just look around these boards. When you compare it to 97'? No comparison to now. Everyone now is much more one side vs the other side.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
People aren't annoyed that Disney is employing Latina actresses in general for their movie productions.
People are annoyed that Disney is employing Latina actresses specifically to play a literal retelling of a German girl.
It's the virtue signaling cringe of seeking out a Latina to play a German girl that annoys people.
It would be the same if they had chosen Taylor Swift instead of Rachel Zegler to play Maria in the literal retelling of West Side Story. Rachel Zegler was perfectly cast as Maria.
Taylor Swift in that role would be cringey and weird. But that doesn't mean Taylor Swift isn't talented or worthy of movie roles.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Another round of media stories out this morning about the Snow White box office, and its steep drop off of 66% this past weekend. And using all the same Rachel Zegler controversies (plural) as part of the story. The word "woke" is also often used.
I imagine this will be the last round of national media like this. Putting the nail in the coffin, so to speak.
www.outkick.com
www.dailymail.co.uk
Interestingly, this morning's article from Fox News quotes a PR crisis expert as blaming Disney for not backing up Rachel Zegler when the controversies (plural) erupted in 2023 and '24. From the article:
Public relations crisis expert Sarah Schmidt says that the movie's dwindling viewership is not the result of "wokeness," but rather Disney's inability to "respect the weight of the crown."
"They cast a rising star, radically reworked an American classic, and then went silent while the internet lit the match. Instead of arming Rachel Zegler with a clear message or standing beside her when her comments went viral, they disappeared," Schmidt, president of Interdependence Public Relations, told Fox News Digital.
"They skipped the fanbase, skipped the charm, and skipped the chance to explain the magic. This wasn't a cultural war casualty—it was a failure to lead the conversation. If Disney wants to regain trust, they need to stop playing defense and start storytelling again — in their films and in their PR," Schmidt added.
www.foxnews.com
I imagine this will be the last round of national media like this. Putting the nail in the coffin, so to speak.
'Snow White' has another disappointing weekend at the box office, loses top spot amid drama
During its second weekend in theaters, Disney's live-action "Snow White" failed to reclaim the top spot at the domestic box office.
www.usatoday.com
Woke 'Snow White' Movie Hits Embarrassing Low, Draws Pathetic Numbers: DETAILS
"Snow White" continues to be a box office disaster.
www.outkick.com
Snow White suffers worst humiliation yet after woke remake tanked
The woke Rachel Zegler led remake of Snow White has reached a new low after failing to ignite at the box office.
Interestingly, this morning's article from Fox News quotes a PR crisis expert as blaming Disney for not backing up Rachel Zegler when the controversies (plural) erupted in 2023 and '24. From the article:
Public relations crisis expert Sarah Schmidt says that the movie's dwindling viewership is not the result of "wokeness," but rather Disney's inability to "respect the weight of the crown."
"They cast a rising star, radically reworked an American classic, and then went silent while the internet lit the match. Instead of arming Rachel Zegler with a clear message or standing beside her when her comments went viral, they disappeared," Schmidt, president of Interdependence Public Relations, told Fox News Digital.
"They skipped the fanbase, skipped the charm, and skipped the chance to explain the magic. This wasn't a cultural war casualty—it was a failure to lead the conversation. If Disney wants to regain trust, they need to stop playing defense and start storytelling again — in their films and in their PR," Schmidt added.
'Snow White' box office plummets, suffers 66% drop in second weekend
Disney's "Snow White" earned just $14.2 million at the domestic box office in its second weekend, marking a 66% decline since its opening weekend on March 21.
www.foxnews.com
brideck
Well-Known Member
Vanity Fair had a piece with that same hypothesis last Friday -- https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywoo...ed-rachel-zegler-into-a-scapegoat-and-an-icon
Assuming I end up making room to see Snow, I'm still looking forward to it despite what folks have said about it. We've been reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, so I've revisited that soundtrack a couple of times recently.
For those talking theatrical release length upthread, Strange World, The Marvels, and Dumbo had over 1000 theaters in the US for 4-6 weeks, so it'll probably be pretty visible through at least the end of April, and then we'll see what kind of after life it has on partial screens and budget screens. Dumbo (also released at the end of March) was showing somewhere all the way through July and it's not like it was setting the world on fire at all. I do agree that it looks like it might fall just shy of $100m domestically now after that 2nd weekend.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
I doubt it, this I imagine will continue to be discussed for how ever long the movie is in theaters, and then after as it gets its post-theatrical life on PVOD and D+. The conversation is likely far from over.
And in this case I would agree with the Fox News expert, I imagine it would have been less of a thing if they had just leaned into it rather than backed away from it and left Zegler to defend the movie mostly alone.Interestingly, this morning's article from Fox News quotes a PR crisis expert as blaming Disney for not backing up Rachel Zegler when the controversies (plural) erupted in 2023 and '24. From the article:
Public relations crisis expert Sarah Schmidt says that the movie's dwindling viewership is not the result of "wokeness," but rather Disney's inability to "respect the weight of the crown."
"They cast a rising star, radically reworked an American classic, and then went silent while the internet lit the match. Instead of arming Rachel Zegler with a clear message or standing beside her when her comments went viral, they disappeared," Schmidt, president of Interdependence Public Relations, told Fox News Digital.
"They skipped the fanbase, skipped the charm, and skipped the chance to explain the magic. This wasn't a cultural war casualty—it was a failure to lead the conversation. If Disney wants to regain trust, they need to stop playing defense and start storytelling again — in their films and in their PR," Schmidt added.
'Snow White' box office plummets, suffers 66% drop in second weekend
Disney's "Snow White" earned just $14.2 million at the domestic box office in its second weekend, marking a 66% decline since its opening weekend on March 21.
TalkingHead
Well-Known Member
I know he’s directed a couple docs but does he have any experience with this kind of feature filmmaking?
MoonRakerSCM
Well-Known Member
Snow White is being pulled...
Checked 3 local theatres... no show times listed for Friday.
Checked 3 local theatres... no show times listed for Friday.
brideck
Well-Known Member
I don't know about your theaters, but we don't get showtimes at any of ours for the upcoming weekend until Tuesday afternoon. ETA: The exception is new releases that would already have presales, etc.