“Snow White” is headed home.
Disney’s live-action version of its own beloved animated classic will arrive on Disney+ next week, debuting on the direct-to-consumer platform on June 11. The movie was directed by Marc Webb and stars Rachel Zegler in the title role, with Gal Gadot at the Evil Queen. The new songs were written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the Oscar-winning team behind “La La Land” and “The Greatest Showman.”
“Snow White” was released earlier this spring. Surrounded by interlocking, focus-pulling controversies (everything from Zegler’s Hispanic heritage to the politically leanings of its stars), it grossed a little over $205 million worldwide. This probably would have been impressive except that the budget was a reported $240 to $270 million. (The New York Times claimed the movie cost at least $350 million to make and market.)
It doesn’t help that it was based on one of the most technologically sophisticated and universally cherished animated movies of all time, one of the crown jewels in Disney’s enviable canon.
Disney’s original “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was released back in 1937 and was the first feature-length animated film. Dismissed at the time of its production as “Disney’s Folly,” by the time it went into general release in 1938, it quickly became the highest grossing film of 1938, the highest grossing sound film of all time and held the record for the most successful animated movie of all time for the next 55 years. At the Academy Awards, Walt Disney was awarded an honorary, full-sized Oscar, along with seven miniature Oscars, symbolizing the dwarfs.
If you missed this new “Snow White,” now is your time to watch and weigh in. Will you feel that it’s too tied to the animated original (or maybe not tied to that original film enough?). And will the surrounding controversies negatively impact your viewing experience? Only one way to find out!
The post ‘Snow White’ Sets Disney+ Streaming Premiere for June appeared first on TheWrap.