Minecraft and Snow White, the world's shortest rivalry.

As 2025 continues to churn out more massive films, two unlikely rivals end up butting heads. It's no surprise who won. 

Image sources: Warner Bros and Disney

It is no secret that Disney has many entertainment rivals, Universal, Sony Pictures, and more specifically, Warner Bros. For years, they have outperformed them, and this was somehow expected as Disney set off into the late days of March to release their highly antagonised film, Snow White, the live-action remake. Coming in along with the rest of Disney's sloppy, lazy remakes, this one not only dropped from the sky, but it left a dent deep enough in Disney’s hull to sink the ship. Featuring the absolute most horrifying portrayal of Dwarves in all of television, this film was easily able to deter just about everyone from coming to see it. Allowing a particular, blocky hero to steal this spring's cinema spotlight, cementing Warner Bros as the bread-winner for this portion of the year.

From massive backlash from even the most loyal of fans, to disappointed reviews from critics, Snow White 2025, directed by Marc Web, was marked as the worst “recent” Disney film to hit theaters in decades. It was so bad, that it even beat familiar faces like The Marvels, and Wish, to the bottom of the flop list like an Olympic track-star. Snow White is riddled with issues, like unnecessary plot developments, strange casting choices (Gal Gadot), and the over-use of CGI, not to mention the drama behind the scenes with this movie's lead actress. It got so bad, that the especially vocal lead, Rachel Zeagler, who served as the bane of this film's existence, saw it in her own personal theater, which was humorously enough, just the average public screening for this movie. Snow White did so badly that even A Working Man, Jason Stathems one millionth action flick, surpassed the film on its opening weekend. Not only that, it did so on its second weekend too, and people liked it more.

I… am Steve! Image source: The 1509.

Just as Snow Bomb began to sink beneath the surface of horrible reviews (40% Rotten Tomatoes critic score, 1.6/10 IMDB), boycotting, and financial failure, another movie came along to make sure it plummeted right on down to the deep reaches of the theatrical sea. That movie was A Minecraft Move, directed by Jared Hess. Although this film, which was based around the global video game icon, Minecraft, faced a lot of backlash pre-release, with fans hating the idea of a live-action cast, A Minecraft Movie exceeded expectations. Earning over 300 million dollars domestically on its debut weekend, Snow White was crushed beneath the weight of meme sensations like “Chicken Jockey” and “I am Steve” both hilariously projected by the famous Jack Black. Not only did this global sensation fill screenings to the brim with excited fans of all ages, but it was so great, that many theaters had to call the police due to “disruptions” (fans cheering a little too loud). All the while auditoriums showing Snow White were so quiet, you could probably hear all the Minecraft commotion next door.                                                              

Minecraft may have been far from a good film, but what it had was a lot of positivity, and did a great deal of serving the fans. If Disney is wondering how they got beat by blocky Jumanji 3, they should look into how they are treating their fans, and what they are giving their audiences. No one wants live-action remakes anymore, that was so 2017, and the lack of sales show it. Coupled with massively negative comments coming from their own cast, and the company's actions online fighting back against “unfair criticism,” they are only sending themselves further down a path of no return. Meanwhile, Minecraft embraced their criticism, as the actors themselves, such as Jack Black, had a field day with how people were making fun of the first trailer. Attacking the criticism in a good way will always give your film a little more buzz. The buzz you want that is, not the buzz Rachel Zeagler inspired.                       

I… flopped at the box office. Image source: Collider.

 By changing Snow White’s story, as they have with many others to make them more “modern” and “acceptable,” the very idea behind a live-action release, the nostalgia factor, is eliminated. When that's gone, all you have is a boring, dated princess story with some added “uplifting changes,” news flash, no one came to see it, and that's not going to change because you guilt trip people on Twitter. This allows other companies, who are not here to be controversial, or abuse their properties to pass messages along that don’t embody the stories, to snatch up all the desperate movie-goers who want to come and see something fun, not foreboding. With Disney’s next lazy live-action movie, Lilo & Stitch coming to try and sweep Disney up off the cutting-room floor, it’s safe to say that the box office won’t be going nuts for that “Disney Magic” anytime soon. Just go watch Jack Black hang out with Jason Momoa in Minecraft instead. It’s way more entertaining.