Heigh-ho... it's off to woke we go Is Snow White box office poison?

Disney's remake of the classic opens in the UK this week. But, writes Edward Helmore in New York, a row is still raging about its actors and themes

- Edward Helmore

Five years ago a $250m remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney's first fulllength animated feature film, must have seemed like a fine idea to corporate executives, who were going all out on remaking the studio's dated classics into contemporary liveaction movies.

But the film - its title trimmed to Disney's Snow White, set to be released in UK cinemas this week has turned into a massive headache for the studio. The press have barely been let near the remake's stars, Rachel Zegler, who is of ColombianPolish descent and plays Snow White, and Israeli actor Gal Gadot, playing the Evil Queen. And there are no dwarves.

The film is forgoing a traditional Leicester Square red carpet opening this week; advance ticket sales projections are lacklustre and it hasn't been shown to reviewers.

But why should a film based on an archetypal fairy tale of a wicked queen, jealous of her stepdaughter's beauty, who orders her murder, only to discover that she is hiding in a cottage with seven dwarves, then poisons her with a drugged apple, causing her to fall into a deep sleep, to be awakened only by the kiss of a prince cause so much bother?

Good or bad, Snow White is destined for a reaction. "It's a complete quagmire but, realistically, what did they expect?" says Stephen Galloway, dean of Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in California and former executive editor of the Hollywood Reporter. "You're going into this with a movie called Snow White. It's hard to imagine a picture in this DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion], or post-DEI, post-woke age could be more controversial and polarising and Disney is all about not being polarising, bringing people together and avoiding controversy at all costs."