Disney premiered its new Snow White remake on Wednesday, ahead of the film’s general release next weekend.
The film, which stars Rachel Zegler in the Rachel Zegler in the title role and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, has been the subject of concerns for months that it could flop due to its so-called ‘woke’ update on the 1937 original.
The new Snow White, the latest in Disney’s line of live-action remakes of its beloved animated films, has been beset by controversies, including backlash to Zegler’s criticism of the original film’s ‘sexist’ romance and concerns about its plan to reimagine the Seven Dwarfs.
And now the remake faces even more potential trouble, as it is projected to have a disappointing open weekend in the US and Canada, which could spell trouble for the film’s box office and Disney’s run of diminishing-returns remakes going forward.
Concerns that the rejuvenated Snow White may be disastrously woke aren’t a new phenomenon, and it could potentially join a long list of IP refreshers that have fallen victim to anti-woke backlashes.
Now, DailyMail.com takes a look back at some of the most derided woke remakes, sequels and franchise entries that likely wouldn’t fly in 2025.
As Disney’s so-called ‘woke’ Snow White remake has been projected to have a disappointing opening weekend, DailyMail.com takes a look back at some of the wokest remakes and sequels that wouldn’t fly in 2025; Rachel Zegler pictured in Snow White
One of the biggest targets of anti-woke backlashes in the past decade was the misbegotten 2016 remake of Ghostbusters, often derisively dubbed ‘Lady Ghostbusters’ by critics on social media
Women-led Ghostbusters remake (2016)
One of the biggest targets of anti-woke backlashes in the past decade was the misbegotten 2016 remake of Ghostbusters, often derisively dubbed ‘Lady Ghostbusters’ by critics on social media.
The film replaced the original quartet of Ghostbusters — played by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson — with a new all-women team featuring stars Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones.
Some of the criticism appeared to be knee-jerk sexism as soon as the female cast was announced, but other fans objected to the presence of director Paul Feig (who later directed the Blake Lively–starring A Simple Favor and its new sequel).
Critics felt Feig’s style didn’t mesh with the original franchise’s tone, and even though the four leads are all well known for their comedic prowess, many viewers judged the remake as being light on jokes.
Some viewers also took issue with Jones’ character, as they felt the attempt to make her character a ‘street-smart Black woman’ ultimately came off as racist.
Although the Ghostbusters remake was relatively well-received by critics, it underperformed at the box office, and future sequels ignored the remake while focusing on a mix of new and old characters.
Last years remake of Mean Girls was also derided for supposedly being a ‘woke’ update of the original 2004 film, but another issue created an even bigger controversy — it was a secret musical
This new Mean Girls was the victim of a modest anti-woke backlash for toning down the original’s acerbic humor with preachy songs
Mean Girls remake (2024)
Last years remake of Mean Girls was also derided for supposedly being a ‘woke’ update of the original 2004 film, but another issue created an even bigger controversy — it was a secret musical.
The remake took as its inspiration the stage musical version of Mean Girls, which had been written by Tina Fey, with music by her husband Jeff Richmond and lyrics by Nell Benjamin, which was in turn based on the original film, which Fey also wrote.
But trailers for the film did their best to hide the fact that the characters would burst into song, and some younger audience members who are more averse to musicals felt cheated by the reveal in theaters.
This new Mean Girls was the victim of a modest anti-woke backlash for toning down the original’s acerbic humor with preachy songs.
Some viewers also questioned the decision to make the eponymous Mean Girls more diverse, as it may have sent the wrong message by making minority students just as catty and cruel as the original lineup.
Sex And The City fans were over the moon when the show’s return was announced earlier this decade, but they were soon annoyed by its focus on microaggressions and faux pas; Cynthia Nixon and Sara Ramirez pictured
But one of the biggest complaints about the series was with its new character, the nonbinary comedian Che Diaz (Ramirez), who annoyed fans with their unfunny jokes and bizarre behavior
Sex And The City’s sequel series And Just Like That… (2021–)
Sex And The City fans were over the moon when the show’s return was announced earlier this decade.
But fans quickly realized it was only a pale imitation, as one of the original leads, Kim Cattrall, did not return to play fan-favorite Samantha Jones.
Reviewing the show for DailyMail.com, Meghan McCain called And Just Like That… a ‘clumsy attempt to reformat’ and blasted it for trying to fit into the ‘woke and puritanical times we are living in.’
She took issue with Carrie now playing the ‘cisgender’ member of a podcast to distinguish her from a queer and nonbinary character, as well as for cringey plot lines in which Miranda gets tangled up in microaggressions.
But one of the biggest complaints about the series was with its new character, the nonbinary comedian Che Diaz (played by Sara Ramirez).
Despite being a comedian, viewers didn’t find their jokes very funny, and the character’s bizarre behavior rubbed some fans the wrong way.
Ramirez (who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns) won’t be returning for season three — expected in July — but they have alleged that they were blacklisted for speaking out against Israel’s devastating attacks against civilians in Gaza.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe entry Eternals was at one point one of the most highly anticipated films in the franchise, but was hit with a significant anti-woke backlash related to casting and the reimagining of some characters
The film was hit with racist and sexist criticisms over race and gender changes to some minor Marvel characters, while other obsessive fans found the presence of a deaf superhero (played by Lauren Ridloff, pictured) to be ridiculous
Even left-wing critics and fans objected to Marvel’s first gay character (played by Brian Tyree Henry) pictured, as his presence felt lazy and perfunctory
Marvel’s Eternals (2021)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe entry Eternals was at one point one of the most highly anticipated films in the franchise, particularly after it was reset in the wake of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
But the film was hit with a significant anti-woke backlash related to casting and the reimagining of some characters.
Several characters from the original comics were gender- and race-swapped, including Ajak, played by Salma Hayek.
Some early criticisms that simply complained about the new races or sexes of character came off as simply racist or sexist.
Other viewers complained about the Eternals member Makkari, who had been reimagined as being deaf — and was played by mixed-race deaf actress Lauren Ridloff — as they found the focus on the character’s disability absurd in the context of the film.
While it’s usually conservatives complaining about wokeness in films, even viewers on the left lambasted Marvel for shoehorning in its first openly gay character, Phastos (played by Brian Tyree Henry).
Those left-wing critics didn’t object to his sexuality, but to the way Phastos’ sexuality seemed to exist simply to check boxes.
The Eternals character even came under fire from LGBTQ critics for making its only gay character partially responsible for the American atomic bombing of Hiroshima by using his powers to help engineer the technology, despite the Eternals’ prohibition about helping humanity.
Even the presence of Chinese-born filmmaker Chloé Zhao was criticized as a PR move by Marvel.
Zhao had previously made the acclaimed independent dramas Songs My Brother Taught Me (2015) and The Rider (2017), as well as 2020’s Best Picture–winning Nomadland.
Even though those films cemented her status as a gifted filmmaker, none of them indicated that she was the ideal choice for a mega-budget Marvel superhero film, and the film was slammed for its slow pacing, confusing plot and uninspired characterizations.
Eternals underperformed at the box office and received some of the worst reviews of any Marvel film, becoming the first to be classified ‘rotten’ on Rotten Tomatoes.
Lightyear underperformed at the box office, partly because viewers couldn’t figure out how closely related to the Toy Story films it was due to the absence of voice actor Tim Allen
Disney claimed he wasn’t included to distinguish the film from the Toy Story films, but that seems to have ultimately hurt the film — and the studio’s indecisiveness about a gay kiss didn’t help it with liberal or conservative viewers
Toy Story quasi-prequel Lightyear (2022)
Disney and Pixar’s Lightyear puzzled fans from the star.
Was it a prequel?
Apparently not, as its voice star Chris Evans cleared up with an instantly mocked and memed tweet: ‘And just to be clear, this isn’t Buzz Lightyear the toy. This is the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on.’
The film was practically set up for failure, as it only had a superficial connection to the Toy Story films that couldn’t satisfy fans of them.
Those fans were particularly annoyed by the choice of Evans to voice the title character, rather than Tim Allen.
Disney explained the reasoning for not approaching Allen — who had expressed interest in making a Buzz Lightyear film — because they feared it would tie the film too closely to the Toy Story films.
However, that lack of tie-in was part of what may have doomed the move to underperform, and conservative fans wondered if the real reason Allen wasn’t approached was due to his politics.
That reasoning likely didn’t hold up because Allen had been featured in 2019’s Toy Story 4, made several years into the first Trump administration, after the actor’s politics were already well known, but it didn’t keep right-wing fans from holding his absence against Lightyear.
The film also received criticism from conservatives and anti-LGBTQ pundits for including a same-sex kiss between two female characters.
Unlike other gay moments, Disney opted not to cut out the scene for international markets where LGBTQ content is illegal or frowned up, resulting in the film being banned in several Middle Eastern countries.
However, liberal Disney fans weren’t much happier about the arrangement, as Disney had reportedly cut the kissing scene months before release, only to later reinstate it, suggesting that the entertainment giant was just leaning whichever way the wind blew.
The Last Jedi grossed $1.3B and was a hit with most fans and critics, who declared it one of the best Star Wars films. But a vocal minority slammed it for its alleged ‘wokeness’
In addition to criticisms about how Luke Skywalker was pushed aside, conservative fans derided a side plot featuring new star Kelly Marie Tran and returning actor John Boyega
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
The anti-woke backlash against the second film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Last Jedi, has cemented its status as one of the most divisive films in the franchise.
The film’s defenders outweigh its detractors, as it boasts an impressive 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it grossed an astounding $1.334 billion, making it one of the most successful films of all time — and outgrossing the poorly reviewed final film in the series, The Rise Of Skywalker.
Critics thought writer and director Rian Johnson brought a fresh take on the series, especially after some derided the previous film, The Force Awakens, as just a warmed-over version of earlier Star Wars films.
But some vocal fans objected to the way Luke Skywalker’s character had evolved since he was last featured in the original films, which they thought didn’t gel with his original characterization.
Fans who had gotten attached to Skywalker were particularly upset that the film seemed to be pushing him and Princess Leia — played by Carrie Fisher, who died before the film was released — aside to let a new generation of heroes rise up.
Some conservative fans blasted The Last Jedi as ‘woke’ for focusing large portions of the film on John Boyega — who joined the franchise in the previous film — and new Kelly Marie Tran, who made her debut as Rose Tico.
While some thought their side plot simply strayed too far from the most important parts of the film, The Last Jedi was also hit with plenty of sexist and racist criticisms over Tran’s casting.
Other complaints were that Johnson’s script was simply too ‘jokey’ compared to earlier entries, even though humor had always been an important part of the Star Wars universe.
The misbegotten Gossip Girl reboot — which last two seasons — was instantly slammed as being too ‘woke’ due to its diverse casting and constant name-dropping of social movements
But even liberal critics thought it was a mistake to make the catty, reprehensible characters more diverse, as it blunted the original show’s criticisms of the mostly white, wealthy and privileged students at elite private schools
Gossip Girl reboot (2021–2023)
The misbegotten Gossip Girl reboot — which last two seasons — was instantly slammed as being too ‘woke’ due to its diverse casting.
However, the criticism in some ways united conservative and liberal viewers.
While many on the right objected to the show’s focus on various social justice movements, viewers on the left criticized nu-Gossip Girl for just paying lip service to those movements.
More liberal viewers also echoed some anti-woke critiques of the diverse casting, but they objected because the new racial and gender diversity seemed to contradict the entire point of the show.
The Blake Lively–led original effectively critiqued the lily-white, wealthy, privileged students of prestigious private schools.
But some found the show’s focused confused and misguided once the catty, sometimes reprehensible characters were now multiracial and diverse, with some of the most objectionable behavior coming from characters who were no longer insulated by wealth.
Viewers were apparently turned off by the confused, haphazard attempts to update Gossip Girl, and it was canceled after two seasons.
Ocean’s 8 was decently reviewed and performed well enough at the box office, but it was hit with anti-woke backlash for its all-female team of thieves
More liberal viewers and critics also object to the diminished team and less ambitious mission, and critics thought it suffered from losing original director Steven Soderbergh
Ocean’s 8 (2018)
As soon as it was announced, the Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13 sequel Ocean’s 8 was slammed as being too ‘woke’ due to its all-female team of thieves.
Although there were plenty of sexist and misogynist takes floating around online, more nuanced takes suggested it was a clumsy course correction to simply redo the general story but with a gender-swapped cast.
Others further to the left objected that the first all-woman team was cut down from double digits to just eight members.
Critics also objected for plenty of non-woke reasons, including the absence of original director Steven Soderbergh (who remained on as a producer).
He was replaced by director and co-writer Gary Ross, who simply didn’t have the visual panache as Soderbergh, nor his talent for extracting winning performances, despite an all-star cast featuring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling and many more.
The sequel received mostly positive — if unenthusiastic — reviews, and grossed a solid $297.8 million against a $70 million budget, which wasn’t enough for talk of a sequel.
The gender-swapped cast created an anti-woke backlash from some quarters on the right, but it also fit into a long-running liberal criticism that many gender-swapped remakes and sequels are just cynical cash grabs.
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