Maybe THIS Is the Furious Backpedal That Will Save Disney's 'Snow White' Reboot

You've got to hand it to "Snow White" reboot star Rachel Zegler: she is Disney's one-woman wrecking crew, riding a pogo stick down a street covered with potholes and willfully crashing into every one of them.

For those who haven't been following the saga and the drama behind Disney's live-action "Snow White" reboot and its titular star, it has been (with apologies to Arnold J. Toynbee) "just one damned thing after another" for the Mouse House.

Before we continue, please understand that nothing you're about to read should be construed in any way as sympathetic to Disney. Bob Iger bought that company a solid gold shovel, and they just can't resist the compulsion to dig deeper and deeper.

Originally set for release earlier this year, Disney finally figured out the movie was in trouble in the summer of 2023 when production images leaked.

Disney strikes again…

Snow White is Hispanic and the 7 Dwarfs include 6 full-grown adults pic.twitter.com/cKLkFCuiKT
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 14, 2023

Instead of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves," we were getting "Snow White, One Dwarf, and Six Painfully Diverse Magical Creatures."

The outrage — and howls of laughter — were so bad that Disney ordered up more than just reshoots. The live-action non-elves were replaced by CGI creations, much more like the original animated characters.

Between the reshoots and the animation server-farm rush job, Disney is likely into "Snow White" for another $100 million. What should have been an $80 million kiddie feature quickly turned into the kind of bloated mess that caused the final Indiana Jones movie to lose $134 million even after taking in $384 million worldwide.

This part is conjecture, but it's an informed guess that the reshoots were also necessary to remove most of the "woke" stuff like Disney's Marvel division did with "The Marvels" last year. That movie flopped, regardless, because not even endless reshoots and another hundred million dollars can save a bad concept.

Then Zegler opened her big mouth in August of last year and dissed the beloved original movie: "I mean, you know, the original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so. Um… there’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her! [Laughs] Weird, weird, so we didn’t do that this time."

Disney must have taken Zegler to the woodshed for that one because when Zegler reemerged, it was with a puff-piece interview with "Little Mermaid" reboot star Halle Bailey where Zegler showed her fealty for the original. The Critical Drinker took notice, saying that Zegler explained "how much she respected the character and the backlash she's faced. Quite the difference from her attitude a few months ago. Almost like this whole thing was desperate damage control from Disney."

Here's Drinker's take on the interview:

Just when maybe Disney thought they'd gotten a handle on their difficult production and its even more difficult star, Zegler went on a rant last week, wishing harm on Donald Trump supporters. “There is a deep sickness in this country,” she wrote on Instagram. “May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace.”

Then she quickly changed her tune again — likely after some stern words from Disney — claiming, "I would like to sincerely apologize for the election post I shared on my Instagram last week."

“I let my emotions get the best of me,” she continued. “Hatred and anger have caused us to move further away from peace and understanding, and I am sorry I contributed to the negative discourse."

The apology, if sincere, is appreciated.

How many more of them will Zegler have to issue before "Snow White" finally hits theaters next spring?