Disney Appears to Have Gotten the Message About ‘Woke’ Remakes in Wake of ‘Snow White’ Flop

The box office has spoken, and Disney might actually be listening.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news this week that the Mouse House is pressing pause on the live-action remake of its animated hit Tangled in the wake of the massive failure of Snow White.

On Friday’s show, Megyn was joined by Mike Solana, founder of Pirate Wires, to discuss Disney’s decision and what it reveals about culture today.

Snow White Bombs

After controversy upon controversy delayed the release of Disney’s live-action remake of Snow White, the film has been a flop at the box office. Snow White made just $43 million domestically in its opening weekend, making it the second-worst performing Disney live-action remake in history.

And it hasn’t gotten much better since then. The movie, which cost some $270 million to make, has grossed only $69 million in the U.S. and $145 million globally since its theatrical debut on March 24. 

Disney’s remake of the 1937 animated classic was marred with issues dating back to 2023 when it first became known that the entertainment giant intended to replace the beloved Seven Dwarfs with so-called “magical creatures” to “avoid reinforcing stereotypes” (CGI depictions of the iconic characters ended up making the final cut).

Off screen, leading lady Rachel Zegler gave Disney plenty of headaches. The actress repeatedly spoke ill of the 19th-century German fairy tale and made it clear that her version of the protagonist would have a “modern edge” and not be waiting on Prince Charming. 

Zegler was also forced to apologize in the weeks after the 2024 election for her social media diatribe against Donald Trump and his supporters, who she said should “never know peace.” Her “free Palestine” musings, meanwhile, were rumored to cause a behind-the-scenes rift with co-star Gal Gadot, who was born in Israel and served in the IDF.

Tangled Tabled

This all led the film to be delayed a year and the promotional tour to be scaled back tremendously. Coupled with the meager earnings, the whole situation has apparently been a wake-up call of sorts for Disney.

THR reported Thursday that Rapunzel will not be letting down her hair on the big screen any time soon, as sources told the outlet a live-action remake of Tangled has been paused. It was apparently in “active development” with both a director and screenwriter already on board. 

The original animated film focused on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale heroine Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore) and brought in nearly $600 million at the global box office when it was released in 2010. 

THR said it “remains uncertain” whether the project “will move forward down the road” or “undergo a creative rethink,” which Solana joked is a tough pill to swallow. “It is disappointing to me because I was really looking forward to them announcing that it was going to be sort of like a bald Rapunzel,” he quipped.

Changing Course?

He called the Snow White debacle “a perfect storm” due to the issues on and off screen, but the public fallout – complete with disastrous box office numbers – clearly got Disney’s attention. “They are going to have to figure it out because now they have to navigate culture,” Solana explained. “Maybe they just never really knew what culture was because of the [social media] platform censorship, but now you can see it and it is very obvious that people are infuriated by this… So, what are you going to make for them, if anything?”

Megyn believes it is proof of just how far these “woke wars” have come in the wake of Elon Musk buying X and the successful boycott of Bud Light. “We have infiltrated even Disney now. We are able to punish the woke-est people at an institution like that with our dollars and our voices in a way we could not have six years ago,” she concluded. “The ‘woke wars’ aren’t over, but we got President Trump elected, the DEI executive orders, and so on… And now they have to deal with us.”

You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Solana by tuning in to episode 1,042 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.