After a turbulent few years of figuring itself out, Disney is 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 Great Spider-Man) will dare to rewrite an observable history, when his remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfsadapted from the first ever animated film produced in the United States, is gracing screens. The trailer for the film debuted at the D23 Expo 2024 on Friday, showing what star Rachel Zegler brings to the classic role.
Written by Greta Gerwig (Barbie) and Erin Cressida Wilson (Secretary), Snow White wants to update the 1937 original while keeping all the iconography intact. Zegler, who plucked Steven Spielberg from obscurity for his West Side Story remake and showed her singing skills on screen for the second time in the recent The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakeswill lead the musical film and, yes, will sing. The film is expected to feature a mix of songs like “Whistle While You Work” and new songs from the duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, best known for Dear Evan Hansen And that circus musical by Hugh JackmanGal Gadot will take on her as the Evil Queen, but it’s unclear whether she will sing.
The dwarves Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy and Sneezy will also appear in the film, but will be brought to life using computer animation art to bring them closer to the designs from the original film. This has not gone down well. When the film went into production in 2022, Peter Dinklage, who has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, took Disney to task on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast for what he saw as endorsing stereotypes.
“You keep telling that fucking backwards story about seven dwarves living in the cave. What the hell are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not being loud enough,” Dinklage told Maron.
The call prompted Disney to respond: “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 dwarfism community. We look forward to sharing more as the film moves into production after a lengthy development period.”
Now the movie is here and Disney hopes it will bask in the Disney magic. We’ll see if Webb can pull it off as Snow White will be released in theaters on March 21, 2025.