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Though Snow White enjoyed a strong opening weekend, it fell short of some more optimistic projections.
Some are blaming audience fatigue with Disney’s live action remakes. Others are blaming Snow White‘s controversies.
And some are straight-up blaming Rachel Zegler, the star who plays the titular Disney princess.
One of those people is the adult son of the film’s producer. In a since-deleted rant, he seemingly accused Zegler of “narcissism” and of sabotaging her own film’s box office numbers.
‘Snow White’ made nearly $90 million on its opening weekend
Last weekend, Disney’s live-action Snow White remake opened a little below expectations. It made $43 million domestically and $87.3 million globally.
While that’s far from a flop, people are already looking to assign blame.
In part because there is a cottage industry rooting for every new thing — television, film, and video games specifically to fail, and then to provide a poisonous “explanation.”
In this case, Snow White was controversial for both valid and invalid reasons long before it premiered. And there are certain figures who seem eager to blame the star, Rachel Zegler.
To be clear, Rachel Zegler’s acting in the film has received very positive reviews. Some people have taken umbrage because Zegler is of Colombian and Polish descent. You can likely guess which side of her family tree has elicited ire from the usual crowd.
Zegler is also outspoken with positive messaging. In 2024, she wrote a scathing takedown of Donald Trump. She has also been adamant about the liberation of Palestinians amidst the genocidal bombing campaign by the IDF.
The latter has come up again. Variety recently reported that producer Marc Platt flew to meet with Zegler in August of 2024 to ask her to remove a “free Palestine” comment that she had made on social media. The context was that she was thanking fans for watching the Snow White trailer.
Jonah Platt is not a Rachel Zegler fan, it seems
Obviously, the story elicited numerous comments — including hefty criticisms of Disney (who seemingly prompted the social media intervention) and of producer Marc Platt himself.
When a commenter called Platt “creepy as hell” for policing Zegler’s social media commentary, Platt’s son saw it.
Jonah Platt launched into a rant — one that he, in what one might call irony, has since deleted.
“You really want to do this? Yeah, my dad, the producer of enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, had to leave his family to fly across the country,” Jonah Platt began his now-deleted comment, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
He complained that his father “had” to fly out “to reprimand his 20 year old employee for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie.”
A film, he noted, “for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicity for.”
‘Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged’
“This is called adult responsibility and accountability,” Jonah Platt, who despite the tone of his message is only 38, continued. “And her actions clearly hurt the film’s box office.”
He continued: “Free speech does not mean you’re allowed to say whatever you want in your private employment without repercussions.” That much, at least, is generally true.
“Tens of thousands of people worked on that film and she hijacked the conversation,” Jonah Platt claimed.
Jonah Platt went on to allege that she “hijacked” promotion of Snow White “for her own immature desires.”
He added that she did so “at the risk of all the colleagues and crew and blue collar workers who depend on that movie to be successful.”
In a bizarre twist, Jonah Platt concluded with: “Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged.”
Casting is probably not where this film went awry
Fellas, is it narcissism to, in a social media thread thanking your own fans for watching a movie trailer, advocate against ongoing atrocities?
Just for the record, both Jonah Platt and Marc Platt have used their own platforms to speak out publicly on issues near and dear to their own hearts.
Unlike his rant about Zegler, Jonah Platt was absolutely right when he has repeatedly condemned Kanye West. And Snow White isn’t even the first film in the past year that Marc Platt has produced where one or more stars have spoken out on behalf of the Palestinian people. He was a producer on Wicked, folks.
Did Rachel Zegler commenting influence the Snow White box office? Sure. Everything does. Gal Gadot’s too. Peter Dinklage’s commentary surely did, too, and he’s not even in the film.
But then, Zegler cannot conceivably be responsible for the film’s budget ballooning to $270 million. Reportedly Snow White also went through nearly half a dozen script doctors. By most accounts, her performance carries the film.
Pretending that a lead actor saying something decent on social media can tank a film seems like a great way to discourage other actors from saying decent things on social media.
But that does not make it a reality.
Rachel Zegler Slammed by ‘Snow White’ Producer’s Son, Accused of … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.