Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Snow White (2025), Walt Disney Studios

Most movies go through film production in months, not years. Disney’s Snow White live action remake is not one of those “most” movies. Instead, Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot’s retelling of the German fairy tale has become a two-year production fiasco. But Bob Iger and Disney feel it is the House of Mouse which might have the final laugh.

Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Walt Disney Studios

To go through the entire story of how this film turned into a nightmare for Disney would be a very long read. Like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, there has been plenty of incompetence, much bad luck, damaging leaks, and sassy stars who fail to understand the art of promotion. Still, even Indy 5 is dwarfed by just how long actors have been in front of cameras for Snow White. This film has been in production since 2022!

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel confirmed, “Principal photography on Snow White began on March 7, 2022, and wrapped in June 2022. So, next year’s release will have been almost three years after production had been completed. However, there was additional photography (reshoots) done on the film in June 2023. The goal was to insert flashbacks into Snow White, featuring actress Emilia Faucher as a younger version of Snow White.”

He added, “Now it’s being reported that another round of reshoots are currently occurring in London. This was confirmed by Gal Gadot who stars in the film as the Evil Queen. Rachel Zegler, who plays Snow White, is also in London for the additional photography. Amidst these delays, the film only has one officially released image, which can be seen above.”

Photo of actor’s chair from Snow White via Gal Gadot Instagram

And yet here we are at a time when it seems we’ve finally reached the end. Rachel Zegler, the star of the show, has declared production finally over.

Of course, she’s also called the Prince a stalker, derided the original film on which the entire Disney foundation is built, and fully embraced a socialist liberator narrative that was part of the first script. More on that later. But perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised if Zegler’s prediction isn’t fully accurate. She’s struggled in that department before.

Rachel Zegler announces production has wrapped on Snow White via Instagram Stories

Now, however, a trusted source has reached out to That Park Place with new information which we are allowed to print so long as we protect their identity. It should be noted that we have used this source before to great success, and that we implore readers to still recognize this is definitively rumor. We’ll be discussing a future product which has not yet been released — things can definitely change before opening day.

According to our source, Snow White has gone through three sets of reshoots as a result of backlash, a terrible original script, poor reception by focus groups and grave concern by a number of Disney executives and licensing partners over just how badly this film might perform.

Rachel Zegler via Good Morning America YouTube

According to the source, these reshoots have attempted the following:

Clean up of the original vision to exclude dwarfs from the final product (except for one live actor). Reshoots allegedly occurred at this point to allow for new CGI dwarfs to be inserted into a large amount of the movie. We are informed this was not inexpensive and may have added an additional $30 million or more to the costs.
Another set of reshoots was then ordered as a result of extremely poor reception by focus groups who detested the character of Snow White as portrayed in the movie. Again, this is rumor, but we’re told efforts were made to bring in the younger version of Snow White played by a different actress to try to soften the character. This may have even included a new musical number added to give her even more screen time.
Finally, a third set of reshoots has just wrapped. And according to our source, these are a result of a movie that was still seen as incoherent and disjointed. The attempt was made to more closely align the film to the original animated feature-length film while still allowing the Zegler version to have a pro-feminist message — albeit one that is softer and less militant.

Rachel Zegler via Variety YouTube

Our source informs us that one of the driving factors for the third set of reshoots was to reassure Mattel that this would not be a damaging enterprise for the toymaker in supporting Snow White. Reshoots largely occurred before the box office results of Inside Out 2… so Disney was not in a good place for leverage or for providing confidence to partners in their box office post-pandemic abilities. Inside Out 2 may have calmed nerves, but focus groups having seen this latest iteration of Snow White also have given top executives at Disney reason to hope they’ve turned a corner.

Allegedly, they have sunk nearly $400 million in production of the film (not including marketing), but many believe they just might get a win with another Barbie-style box office sensation. The idea is that by going “soft woke” they can drive mothers and daughters to the box office but simultaneously stay away from hyper controversies that destroyed Lightyear, Strange World and more.

The Seven Dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Walt Disney Studios

READ: More Evidence that Rachel Zegler May Lose Screen Time in Snow White! Child Actress in Major Reshoots?

Beyond the focus group results for Snow White, we are told to watch for the big trailer to release with Moana 2 this November. Disney thinks they finally have a winner on their hands and they’re going to drive it towards female audiences as hard as they can.

Perhaps more importantly for Disney, they might also get a narrative victory, assuaging fears of investors that they’ve lost their cinematic touch. If two of their three remaining 2024 films can do well, Snow White would kick 2025 off quite well (at least that’s what they’re thinking). That could create an all-new pattern of success. It also can drive headlines that Bob Iger came in and saved a quivering failure blamed on Bob Chapek so that the studios can soar once more. And for Iger, that’s a legend he’s love to craft.

Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: Courtesy of Lionsgate

What do you make of this rumor?