Well, would you look at that—Disney has finally stumbled over its own glass slipper. After years of churning out live-action remakes like they’re on autopilot, it looks like the Magic Kingdom just got a very expensive reality check. Word is, the studio has hit pause on its live-action “Tangled” project, and gee, wonder why? Oh right—because their latest “reimagining” of a beloved classic, Snow White, flopped harder than a vegan entrée at a Texas BBQ.
Let’s just call this what it is: a self-inflicted mess. Disney took a fairytale that’s been adored by generations and thought, “You know what this needs? Less charm, more lectures.” And just like that, we got Rachel Zegler, a woman cast as Snow White who seemed to loathe the actual story she was starring in.
Instead of leaning into the classic romance and innocence of the original, Zegler decided to take the feminist empowerment sledgehammer to Prince Charming, calling him a “stalker” and bragging that her version of Snow White wouldn’t be caught dead dreaming about true love. Because, of course, modern audiences want their fairy tales served with a side of political resentment and disdain for traditional values. That always sells, right?
‘Snow White’ bombed so badly at the box office that Disney put another live-action princess remake on ice: reports https://t.co/DyEFrPBw1k pic.twitter.com/d1vEEoEbT1
— New York Post (@nypost) April 4, 2025
Well, it didn’t. The film barely scraped together $69 million domestically and $145 million worldwide, which wouldn’t be so embarrassing if it hadn’t cost an eye-watering $270 million to make. That’s right—Disney somehow spent the GDP of a small nation on a remake nobody asked for and, judging by the receipts, almost nobody liked. Critics weren’t kind either, slapping it with a 44% score on Rotten Tomatoes. And let’s be honest, when the mainstream press can’t find a way to spin it as groundbreaking and brilliant, you know it’s bad.
So now, Disney’s putting the brakes on Tangled, which probably would’ve been next in line for a “bold, empowering reinterpretation.” You know, maybe Rapunzel escapes the tower not because of a prince, but because she files a zoning complaint with the local medieval planning board and builds her own brand as a feminist influencer. And don’t even think about calling it a love story—that would be problematic.
Meanwhile, let’s remember what used to work. Cinderella in 2015? Beautiful, charming, faithful to the original spirit—$540 million at the box office. Beauty and the Beast in 2017? That one pulled in over a billion dollars because it remembered the golden rule of remakes: people actually like the classics when you don’t gut them of everything that made them magical. Nostalgia isn’t the problem—ideological rewriting is.
But lately, Disney seems more interested in checking boxes than telling stories. They’ve become obsessed with turning every fairytale into a TED Talk about empowerment, leadership, and smashing the patriarchy. It’s like watching your favorite childhood story get filtered through a sociology textbook. And shocker—it’s not selling. Turns out parents don’t want to pay $60 for tickets and popcorn to watch their kids be lectured by a Disney princess who thinks Prince Charming is toxic masculinity in tights.
Reports say Disney is halting production on the live-action #Tangled because Snow White tanked at the box office.
Dear Disney: it’s not that people don’t want live-action remakes — it’s that your warped, tone-deaf creative choices keep butchering the classics rather than… pic.twitter.com/2qqnqQCQc3
— John Flickinger (@theFLICKpick) April 5, 2025
Here’s an idea: maybe instead of trying to retrofit every story into some modern ideological fable, Disney should stick to what it used do best—telling timeless tales with heart, wonder, and, dare I say it, actual joy. But until they figure that out, it looks like the only thing getting tangled is their box office strategy.
