Less than three months after its release in theaters March 21st, Snow White arrived on Disney+ on Wednesday, June 11th. The movie has already been deemed a box office failure, though there has been much debate about how much its behind-the-scenes controversies impacted ticket sales. Regardless, Disney announced its availability to stream on Wednesday with plenty of fanfare and excitement, perhaps hoping for one more burst of excitement before it falls off the radar. The movie has been available to digitally rent or purchase for weeks now, and it is already available for pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD. The hard copies will be on shelves on June 24th, while the streaming version is available now.
Snow White was created and released amid the perfect storm or Hollywood controversy, yet for all that, it has already left the public consciousness entirely for many movie fans. Early on, there was some outrage online from fans contending that a German actress should be cast in the titular role, since the original Snow White fairytale comes from Germany. Star Rachel Zegler has both Polish and Colombian ancestry. This led to some early talks of boycotting the film, as well as online review-bombing campaigns against the film.
Meanwhile, the plan for depicting the Seven Dwarves in live-action led to some heated discourse among fans as well. Actor Peter Dinklage argued that roles like these were harmful to people with dwarfism, while several other actors with dwarfism said publicly that Dinklage’s criticism would only make it harder for them to find roles in Hollywood. In the end, the CGI-rendered Seven Dwarves were off-putting to many viewers and critics.
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The Snow White production then weathered the 2023 Hollywood labor strikes before the final, biggest wave of controversy hit the film — politics. Some Disney fans were angered when Zegler publicly criticized then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, but the real rift was formed when she and her co-star Gal Gadot voiced opposing views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This led to many calls for boycotts from viewers all along the political spectrum.
Still, in the end many critics felt that these off-screen controversies couldn’t be blamed for Snow White‘s poor box office performance. A report by Business Insider pointed out that the movie had all the warning signs of poor profitability outside of its social and political entanglements — early reviews were mixed, it was released at a slow time for the industry, and its marketing was ineffective. Several professionals familiar with the trends of the industry felt that these headline-generating “controversies” surrounding the film were barely a factor in its ticket sales.
Perhaps with time and distance, fans can decide for themselves objectively now. Snow White is streaming on Disney+.
