The 2025 Snow White live-action remake has been controversial since its inception. From casting Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot as Snow White and the Evil Queen to problematic statements by Zegler, everything contributed to its critical and commercial failure.
Adding more to the ongoing troubles, the Mark Webb brainchild has caused another headache for Disney after being banned from movie theaters in Lebanon. Reportedly, the presence of Israeli actress Gal Gadot has led to this ban, as none of her movies have ever been released in this country.
The woes are never-ending for the 2025 Snow White remake
It cannot be denied that the entire fiasco surrounding the Snow White remake did not leave a good impact. Even if we ignore the casting controversies, many professional reviews did not like the movie’s stylistic choices as well. All of it caused the Rachel Zegler starrer to only earn $182.6 million (via Box Office Mojo) so far.
Snow White has raised another controversy as Variety reports that the movie is banned in Lebanon. The news came after a local newspaper, An-Nahar, reported that Lebanon’s Interior Minister Ahmad Al-Hajjar recommended the ban amid Israel’s ongoing attacks on Hezbollah that caused many casualties.
According to Variety, Gal Gadot has long been a part of Lebanon’s ‘Israel boycott list’, and it is not the first time her movie has been banned in the country. Reportedly, none of her movies have ever been released in the country due to her Israeli background.
The Wonder Woman star has been a prominent supporter of Israel and has openly supported the Israeli military. Before becoming a model and actress, she also served in the Israel Defense Forces. When Gadot was honored at the Anti-Defamation League’s annual summit in New York City, she delivered a speech that also raised a massive controversy (see The Guardian).
Interestingly, Captain America: Brave New World, another recent release, was also banned in Lebanon due to the casting of another Israeli actress, Shira Haas.
Snow White makes it difficult for the future Disney live-action remakes
From the daily box office collections, the fate of Snow White does not look promising so far. The movie faced a similar criticism to that given to the 2023 The Little Mermaid live-action remake. But sadly, the latter collected a decent figure of $569.6 million, while the new movie is even struggling to recover its budget.
Shockingly, Snow White can also be the third Disney live-action remake to earn less than $200 million. Earlier, only two movies, Mulan and Christopher Robin, earned below $200 million. But still, their conditions were not as bad as Mulan released amidst the global pandemic, and Christopher Robin had a small budget of $70 million.
The pathetic collection of Snow White has caused Disney to put their planned Tangled live-action remake on hold (as per The Hollywood Reporter). But on the contrary, Disney also has Lilo & Stitch and Moana live-action remakes in production, both of which can be great box office hits.
Disney must be under pressure with the two upcoming live-action remakes, as Mufasa: The Lion King, released earlier this year, also failed to replicate the billion-dollar commercial success of 2019’s The Lion King. However, with the hype surrounding and lack of controversies, both Lilo & Stitch and Moana can turn things in Disney’s favor. Sadly, it may do more harm than good, as it’s high time Disney needed to slow down its live-action remake pipeline.
Snow White is running in theaters near you, while Lilo & Stitch will be released on May 23, 2025 (USA), and Moana live-action will be released on July 10, 2026 (USA).
