Snow White's box-office flop not solely due to anti-Israel 'pressure': Gal Gadot

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Gal Gadot is walking back recent political comments she made connecting the dots to the potential box office failure of Snow White.

The actress, whose home country is Israel, said recently in a Jerusalem Post interview that “pressure on celebrities to speak out against Israel” following the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ killing of about 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023 “greatly affected” the film’s financial performance.

“I was honoured to join an extraordinary interview with inspiring interviewers, whose questions go straight to the heart. Sometimes we respond to questions from an emotional place,” Gadot shared in a text post to her Instagram Stories on Sunday.

“When the film came out, I felt that those who are against Israel criticized me in a very personal, almost visceral way,” she wrote on Instagram. “They saw me first and foremost as an Israeli, not as an actress. That’s the perspective I spoke from when I answered the question.”

Gadot added: “Of course, the film didn’t fail solely because of external pressures. There are many factors that determine why a film succeeds or fails, and success is never guaranteed.”

Snow White, which had its lackluster box-office debut in March, was mired in controversy from early on when Rachel Zegler was announced as its star in the fall of 2021. Zegler made various controversial social media posts.

Meanwhile, Gadot’s former service in the Israeli Defense Forces and ongoing support of the country amid its siege of Gaza sparked criticism and even a boycott.

Zegler posted “free Palestine” shortly before the film’s first trailer release in August 2024. Later, Jonah Platt, the son of Snow White producer Marc Platt and brother to Dear Evan Hansen star Ben Platt, blamed Zegler, revealing her post prompted his father to “fly across the country to reprimand his 20-year-old employee for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicity for.”

In her interview with the Jerusalem Post, Gadot denied any allegations of conflict between herself and Zegler.

“I even enjoyed working with Rachel Zegler. We laughed, we talked, and it was fun. I was sure that this movie was going to be a huge success,” Gadot said.

Internal pressures Gadot alluded to included Disney forgoing a traditional red-carpet premiere for the film, instead inviting only photographers and house interviewers.

Snow White ended its global box office run with a lifetime gross of $205 million, resulting in an estimated $115 million loss for Disney.

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