DisneyAs if it couldn’t get any worse for the Snow White remake, it just has. If you take a look at the new Disney movie on IMDb, you might notice it’s now sporting one of the worst ratings of all time.
Even before the new movie was released, things weren’t looking great. Rachel Zegler’s casting as the titular princess was seen as too “woke,” production was hit by various delays including the SAG-AFTRA strike, and its eventual budget ballooned to over $270m.
Amazingly, none of these are reasons why Snow White is now being review bombed so badly, and it’s got one of the worst IMDb ratings on record. If the film were the Titanic, it’s only hit the tip of the iceberg.
But where do we even begin with this catastrophe of a rollout? There’s been more going on than meets the eye, and it could use some explanation.
Snow White review bombed as IMDb score plummets
If you take a look at IMDb as of writing, you’ll see the Snow White remake sitting no-so-pretty with a score of 1.9 out of 10. Judging by the site’s list of lowest ratings of all time, our princess easily nestles in the top 15. Ouch.
DisneyRight now, the movie is keeping the company of Disaster Movie, From Justin to Kelly, and Race 3 thanks to 23,000 1-star ratings. But it wasn’t always quite this bad, though.
The film’s domestic box office has fallen short of expectations but still hasn’t been a complete disaster. It secured $44.3 million and overall achieved a total of $87.3 million from its global launch, which is below the $100 million expectation.
Over on Rotten Tomatoes, Snow White has an audience score of 73%, with a critic score of 43%. Not great but not terrible – and both distinctly better than what we’re seeing on IMDb.
Related
As you can see from the below tweet, parts of the film’s IMDb page are purposefully being changed to target it, including this violence and gore rating. All content warnings are currently set to severe, with around 500 people voting on each.
“The new Snow white movie is rated 2/10 on IMDb. Dragon Ball Evolution had 2.5/10. Do you know how bad you have to be to get a 2/10???” one fan posted on X/Twitter.
A second weighed in, “I’m just gonna throw this out there. Cats has a higher rating on IMDB than the new Snow White movie. That’s right. Cats.”
Why is Snow White getting bad reviews?
As we’ve already touched on, there’s no one singular reason why Snow White is being tanked, but rather a few.
DisneyRachel Zegler
In addition to Zegler’s “woke” casting backlash, fans didn’t take kindly to her comments about the original animation. After saying the 1937 original was “extremely dated,” she added at Disney’s D23 meet-and-greet in 2022 “She’s not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love. She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave, and true.”
Alongside an “End Wokeness” campaign on social media, outlets including the Daily Wire were quick to attack the move, with the latter making its own anti-woke rival movie in response.
After Donald Trump’s 2024 electoral victory, she wrote on Instagram she hoped his supporters would “never know peace,” and later apologized. “Hatred and anger have caused us to move further and further away from peace and understanding, and I am sorry I contributed to the negative discourse,” she wrote in an Instagram story.
DisneyGal Gadot
Zegler hasn’t been the only actor to come under fire. Before release, rumors of ill feelings between Zegler and Gadot circulated. Zegler has publicly supported Palestine during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, with Gadot having an Israeli military background. Gadot has received backlash on social media for the same reasons, with fans calling for a boycott of the film altogether. In the run-up to release, protesters from both sides disrupted Gadot’s Walk of Fame ceremony in Hollywood.
DisneyThe seven dwarves
Then there are the dwarves themselves. Actor Peter Dinklage, who has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, called the remake “f**king backwards,” though praised Zegler’s casting. “You’re progressive in one way but you’re still making that f**king backward story of seven dwarves living in the cave. What the f**k are you doing, man?” he continued.
In response, Disney released a statement saying it had been “consulting with members of the dwarfism community” to “avoid reinforcing stereotypes.”
Other fans blasted the use of CGI to create “magical creatures” rather than employing dwarf actors for the same job. You might remember 2014’s Snow White and the Huntsman coming under fire for similar reasons.
While Disney has tried to stay out of further controversy, it notably scaled back its launch of the Snow White remake. In place of a flashy global press tour, events were kept to a US premiere and the launch of an original song in a castle in Spain, which served as inspiration for the original animation.
Snow White is in theaters now. You can also take a look at the best animated movies of all time, and check out the 15 best movies on Disney+ to watch right now.