After a few turbulent years 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 Amazing Spider-Man) will dare to remake certifiable history, when his remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, adapted from the first ever animated feature film produced in the United States, graces screens. The trailer for the film debuted at the 2024 D23 Expo on Friday, showcasing what star Rachel Zegler brings to the classic role.
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Matt Patches is an executive editor at Polygon. He has over 15 years of experience reporting on movies and TV, and reviewing pop culture.
Written by Greta Gerwig (Barbie) and Erin Cressida Wilson (Secretary), Snow White aims to update the 1937 original while keeping all the iconography intact. Zegler, who Steven Spielberg plucked from obscurity for his West Side Story remake and flexed her screen singing skills a second time in the recent The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, leads the musical film and, yes, will sing. The movie is expected to be a mix of numbers like “Whistle While You Work” and new songs from duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, best known for Dear Evan Hansen and that Hugh Jackman circus musical. Gal Gadot will face off against her as the Evil Queen, but unclear if she’ll sing.
The dwarfs, Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy, are also set to appear in the film, but will be brought to life through the art of computer animation to bring them closer to the original film’s designs. This hasn’t exactly gone over well. When the film went into production in 2022, Peter Dinklage, who has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, called out Disney on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast for what he saw as endorsing stereotypes.
“You’re still making that fucking backward story of seven dwarfs living in the cave. What the fuck are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough,” Dinklage told Maron.
The call out prompted Disney to issue the following response: “To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community. We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”
Now the film is here, and Disney is hoping it’ll bask in Disney magic. We’ll see if Webb pulls it off when Snow White opens in theaters on March 21, 2025.