Staff Reports
Oh, the tales of Hollywood never cease to baffle and bemuse. In the latest episode of the “Woke and Broke Chronicles,” we have Disney’s attempt to reinvent Snow White—let’s call it “Snow Woke”—which turned into a cinematic calamity. The headliner here is Rachel Ziegler, who reportedly watched her own film flop spectacularly, alone in an empty theater. Picture it: a lone actress gazing at an empty sea of chairs, as if in a scene from a dystopian comedy. A dramatic sigh of relief perhaps? No autograph seekers in sight. Just her and the echoing grandeur of a box office debacle.
One cannot help but chuckle at Disney’s ambitious experiment in creating a Snow White era steeped in modern virtues but ending up as a fairytale misadventure. The costs? A staggering $336 million spent on crafting this tale, from inception to its very public decline. Lucky for Disney, the folks across the pond offered a rebate of $70 million through some lucrative tax credits. Yet, the math still pinches at a daunting $271 million in production costs, with Disney publicly acknowledging a $170 million loss. For those keeping score at home, that’s a Titanic-sized iceberg of a financial disaster.
Our leading lady, Rachel Ziegler, managed to stir a pot of her own, famously inviting everyone to unfollow her if they disagreed with her stance. It seems the invite was accepted en masse. Talk about getting exactly what you ask for! This casualty of cinema should be a cautionary tale to entertainers and media giants alike: be careful what you wish for—especially if it’s in a social media age where thumbs are quicker than feet out the door.
Disney’s grand experiment in cinematic consciousness-alteration saw the dreams of live-action princesses shrouded in some pretty dense clouds. With Snow Woke’s unfortunate demise, the Tangled remake, featuring Whoopi Goldberg and Lizzo, has been put on ice. Whether as a strategic pause or a complete rethinking of approach, it appears the guardrails are back up in the House of Mouse. For now.
Thank you, Disney, for this consummate case study in going too far, too fast. You taught us that one misstep in the name of being woke can bring things to a juddering halt. Rachel Ziegler may have wanted a brand new world, but it seems all she got was a one-way ticket to box office bustsville. Here’s to hoping the fever has broken and the fairy tale can get back to brighter horizons, for us all.
