Disney pushes new ‘Snow White’ and pulls Jonathan Majors film as actors’ strike continues
Disney updated its theatrical release calendar on Friday, pushing the new “Snow White” starring Rachel Zegler and pulling Searchlight’s prestige drama “Magazine Dreams” starring the embattled Jonathan Majors.
The studio giant has also delayed another Disney movie and a Pixar title, while removing one Disney and one Pixar project from the calendar as the actors’ strike rages on, threatening to upend next year’s film slate.
The performers union, SAG-AFTRA, and the alliance representing the entertainment companies planned to reconvene Friday in their latest round of negotiations. There’s also the matter of Majors, who is scheduled to stand trial in November in a domestic violence case.
SAG-AFTRA has approved a deal from the studios to end its historic strike. The actors were on strike for more than 100 days.
Disney’s live-action remake of “Snow White” has been postponed from March 22, 2024, to March 21, 2025. The revival has already faced setbacks: Members of the little person community have voiced concerns about the “seven dwarfs” potentially returning to the big screen, while conservatives online have made racist complaints about Zegler, who is of Colombian and Polish descent, portraying the Disney princess.
After “Game of Thrones” actor Peter Dinklage called Disney out last year for being “very proud to cast a Latino actress as Snow White, but ... still telling the story of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,’” the studio issued a statement vowing to “avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film.”
“We are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community,” a Disney spokesperson told the Hollywood Reporter at the time.
“We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”
Peter Dinklage and Marc Maron talk about the hypocrisy they see as Hollywood tries to address racial issues while ignoring other story flaws.
In a 2022 interview with Vanity Fair, Zegler brushed off “people ... making these jokes about ours being the PC Snow White.”
“It’s like, yeah, it is — because it needed that,” the “West Side Story” breakout said.
“It’s an 85-year-old cartoon, and our version is a refreshing story about a young woman who has a function beyond ‘Someday My Prince Will Come.’”
‘The Little Mermaid’ star Halle Bailey is sending love to Rachel Zegler after production photos from ‘Snow White’ ignited a fresh wave of backlash.
Meanwhile, Searchlight’s “Magazine Dreams” — originally slated to open in December — has been yanked from the theatrical release schedule altogether. The drama, which premiered this year at the Sundance film festival, starred Majors as an aspiring bodybuilder willing to risk his long-term health in pursuit of his dreams.
On Wednesday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office confirmed that Majors’ trial would begin Nov. 29 in New York. The Marvel actor is facing misdemeanor assault and harassment charges after he allegedly struck a woman, Grace Jabbari, with an open hand, cut her ear, grabbed her hand and pushed her into a vehicle during an altercation in late March.
Majors’ attorney Priya Chaudhry said in August that the “Creed III” star “remains unwavering in his determination to be absolved from this harrowing ordeal.”
Disney did not say whether it planned to reschedule a theatrical debut for “Magazine Dreams.”
The only other affected project with a title is Disney-Pixar’s “Elio,” an animated movie about an imaginative boy who embarks on an epic journey to outer-space. That film has been moved from March 1, 2024, to June 13, 2025.
Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
A judge decided Wednesday that Jonathan Majors will stand trial starting in November. In March, the ‘Loki’ actor was accused of domestic assault in New York.
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