Tony Blackburn has issued a surprising defence of universally-panned Disney flop Snow White, even claiming the remake is ‘better’ than the 1937 original.
The film has been plagued by accusations of ‘wokeness’ from the outset, after it was announced that the Seven Dwarfs would be re-imagined as a group of ‘magical creatures’.
Comments by the movie’s leads Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot ahead of its release have also faced a backlash, borne out in a terrible opening weekend of ticket sales, taking just £67.4 million ($87.3m) globally including £33m ($43m) in the US.
But now the box-office disaster has received backing from a rather unlikely source, with BBC Radio veteran Tony, 82, citing a very personal reason for enjoying the film.
He wrote on X: ‘I’ve just seen a film my son-in-law has been working on, the new Disney production of Snow White. I can’t believe the negative reviews from the critics as it’s brilliant, kids and adults will love it.
‘I loved the original film but for me this is even better. The songs are great and the production is fabulous. Sorry you film critics but you didn’t see the same film I saw, I loved it.’
Tony Blackburn has issued a defence of universally-panned Disney flop Snow White, even claiming the remake is ‘better’ than the 1937 original (pictured: Rachel Zegler as Snow White)
The box-office disaster has received backing from a rather unlikely source, with BBC Radio veteran Tony (pictured, in January) citing a very personal reason for enjoying the film
The film has been plagued by accusations of ‘wokeness’ from the outset, after it was announced that the Seven Dwarfs would be re-imagined as a group of ‘magical creatures’
The iconic disc jockey added a GIF of a scene from the 1937 classic Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs to his remarks.
Tony also responded to a social media post detailing the grim figures behind Snow White’s deeply unsuccessful opening weekend, writing: ‘That’s a pity as it’s a great film, I saw it yesterday and loved it.’
The winner of the first ever series of I’m A Celebrity appears to be in a minority, with critics and viewers alike heaping negative reviews on the remake.
The Mail’s Brian Viner slammed it as a ‘painfully muddle-headed affair’, adding: ‘This production has been cursed from the start. Disney’s contorted attempts not to offend anyone have somehow managed to offend everyone.’
Meanwhile, one prospective cinema-goer shared on social media how the movie sold zero tickets at one point for a prime weekend slot in the US, and just one for another screening. They posted on X: ‘Opening Friday night for Disney’s Snow White in Imax. Only ONE person bought tickets for tonight. Yeah this movie’s gonna flop.’
Alongside the caption was a pH๏τograph of the cinema booking screen, showing just a single seat reserved.
They also posted another image of Saturday night’s bookings and penned: ‘And for Saturday night? ZERO. I’ve never seen a major movie from Disney have this little interest opening weekend. This is hilariously abysmal.’
The post attracted over 13million views along with comments from people who observed similar scenes in their cinemas – with one writing: ‘I have one better. Dolby Cinema and only a small handful of people.’
The iconic disc jockey said: ‘I can’t believe the negative reviews from the critics as it’s brilliant, kids and adults will love it,’ before expressing disappointment at its poor box-office takings
The string of empty cinemas came as another post on X shared a video of Rachel hoping people would ‘wait in line’ to see movies she stars in.
It was captioned with: ‘Prior to Snow White’s release, actress Rachel Zegler told her critics that audiences would wait in line to see her. Snow White is the lowest performing Disney movie in decades. No one waited in line to see it.’
Rachel said in the clip: ‘I can only hope that despite my flaws and despite my cracks and my breaks and there are many of them, that at every premiere and every thing I do, people will wait in line to see.
Another video post on X showed a large cinema that seemed to be vacant and was captioned ‘so many people here to watch Snow White’, before panning to show rows upon rows of empty seats.
One wrote: ‘Snow White and the seven viewers.’ Another added: ‘Go woke, go broke – live from the box office.’
MailOnline approached viewers to get their thoughts on the controversial remake, and many were not impressed.
Friends Shannon, 28, and Chelsea, 24, were left disappointed by the film and awarded it a one-star rating.
Shannon said: ‘We didn’t like it. It was really not fleshed out. They stuck to the original, but then they added so many bits that lead absolutely nowhere.
‘It’s like there’s no intention. The story needed more purpose. It’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs yet it felt like the dwarfs were there for ten minutes.’
The Disney reboot of the classic 1812 princess fairy tale starring Rachel (pictured) and Gal Gadot launched on Friday
The remake has come under fire due to comments from its stars and the absence of the iconic song Someday My Prince Will Come
But NHS worker Rachel Bulman, 50, gave it 4.5 stars and praised the remake as ‘really good’. She added: ‘It didn’t take away from the story that says if you keep true to yourself, be kind and fair, then you can overcome anything.’
The remake has come under fire due to comments from Rachel and the absence of the iconic song Someday My Prince Will Come.
In a 2022 interview, she said: ‘There’s a big focus on her love story with the guy who literally stalks her. Weird, weird. So we didn’t do that this time.’
The movie had set out with far higher ambitions, particularly since it returned Disney to its origins – given the 1937 original ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ was the company’s first animated feature, and paid for its studio lot in Burbank, California.
But the run-up to its release was plagued by controversies over the film’s handling of the dwarfs, who are rendered in CGI, with Disney then pulling back on its premiere.
There was also a backlash about pro-Palestinian comments by Rachel and pro-Israel comments by Israeli actress Gal.
Critics were also unimpressed with the live-action remake, with reviews coming in just 43 per cent ‘fresh’ on Rotten Tomatoes.
Snow White opened in the US with a worse total than ‘Dumbo’, a $46million opening in 2019; and well shy of ‘Cinderella’, which took $68million in 2015.
A video posted on X, captioned ‘so many people here to watch Snow White’, panned to show rows upon rows of empty seats
It comes as another post on X shared a video of Rachel hoping people would ‘wait in line’ to see movies she stars in
The result will likely add to questions over Disney’s long-term strategy of mining its vault for live-action remakes – with upcoming new versions of ‘Moana’ and ‘Tangled’ in the pipeline, and a live-action ‘Lilo & Sтιтch’ launching in May.
Efforts to modernise ‘Snow White’ quickly ran afoul – with actor Peter Dinklage criticising the remake plans in 2022 as ‘backward.’
Disney also decided to drop ‘and the Seven Dwarfs’ from the original’s тιтle, and animate the dwarfs – while delays and reshoots also ran up costs.
The film has become ‘one of the most troubled projects in Disney’s 102-year history,’ according to The New York Times.
Reviews have been scathing – the Guardian called it ‘toe-curlingly terrible’ – while others were a bit kinder, with The Washington Post calling it ‘surprisingly entertaining’ and audiences giving generally positive feedback.
‘While it’s a disappointing opening weekend, we can’t write off the film’s performance until we see how it holds up in the coming weeks,’ said Daniel Loria, senior vice president at the Boxoffice Company.
Focus Features’ spy thriller ‘Black Bag’ starring Michael Fᴀssbender and Cate Blanchett was up from the previous weekend to second place in the US, earning $4.4million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported yesterday.
In third place, also up one spot from the prior weekend, was Marvel and Disney’s ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ at $4.1million. Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford star in the latest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Last year, Tony bid an emotional farewell to his BBC Berkshire, Oxford and Solent listeners, saying his last goodbye with a moving message after 43 years
Black comedy ‘Mickey 17’ from Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho slipped to fourth place, at $3.9million.
Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo star in the Warner Bros. sci-fi tale about the many lives – and deaths – of a man who volunteers for hazardous space missions.
And last weekend’s leader, Paramount’s action-comedy ‘Novocaine,’ suffered a drop in ticket sales, taking in just $3.8million.
Last year, Tony bid an emotional farewell to his BBC Berkshire, Oxford and Solent listeners, saying his last goodbye with a moving message after 43 years.
Drawing the curtains on his time on the show, Tony said: ‘You’ll never find another laugh like mine.
Read More Snow White and the empty cinemas: PH๏τos show deserted theatres with NO bookings in primetime slots 
’43 years on BBC local radio, and that’s it as far as I’m concerned. Thank you so much. I want to thank you very much indeed for listening to me over the years.
‘It’s been a pleasure being here and I look forward to being with you in other places. Once again thanks very much indeed for all the memories and all the lovely music, I hope you’ve enjoyed the music I’ve brought you on Sunday afternoons.
‘From me Tony Blackburn to BBC Local Radio, bye bye.’
The veteran still presents Sounds of the 60s and Tony Blackburn’s Golden Hour on Radio 2 at weekends.
