Snow White’s Biggest Remake Changes Were Already Done By A 28-Year-Old Horror Version Starring Sigourney Weaver

Warning: SPOILERS for Disney's live-action Snow White remake.

Many have criticized Disney’s Snow White remake, but there’s a much older horror version that delivers some of the same plot changes in similar ways. After all of the controversies that the movie racked up in the years up to its release, it was predictable that Snow White’s box office might be a bit compromised. What’s interesting, however, is that not all of this had to do with initial reactions to Snow White’s cast. Many have also had poor reactions to certain changes in the story.

These changes aren’t necessarily removed entirely from the controversies. Because there were times when basic plot points were unclear, such as whether the movie would even include dwarfs. Eventually, the inclusion of seven bandits in Snow White’s story became a Schrödinger issue. However, one of the bandits in particular draws a surprising comparison to a Snow White movie from an entirely different genre.

The Snow White Remake’s Jonathan Is Oddly Similar To Will From Snow White: A Tale Of Terror

Both Characters Command Dwarf Stand-Ins Who Double As Criminals

Disney’s Snow White remake does away with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ Prince Florian, instead substituting a bandit known as Jonathan who has seven other bandits following his lead. But this has certainly been done before. In 1997’s Snow White: A Tale of Terror, protagonist Lilli meets a miner named Will who also happens to be a criminal outcast. In fact, his team of outcasts lives so far outside the law that they even consider ransoming Snow White in the hopes of profiting from turning her in.

Snow White and Jonathan hold hands in front of the cottage in Snow White 2025

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Will turns out to be a stand-in for the prince. He falls in love with Snow, saves her from the poisoned apple in a fashion similar to that of the original tale, and stays by her side until the end. A Tale of Terror even includes the detail that precisely one member of Will’s gang is a dwarf, a detail shared by Disney’s remake. The characters play very different roles, but it’s nonetheless odd that two Snow White movies chose to cast precisely one dwarf actor in a team of what would otherwise seem like Snow White’s dwarf replacement characters.

Disney’s Snow White And Snow White: A Tale Of Terror Took Similar Approaches To Their Endings

The Mirror Is More Important Than It’s Ever Been Before

Evil Queen (Gal Gadot) talking to the Magic Mirror in Snow White (2025).

There are many adaptations of the tale in which Snow White’s Magic Mirror turns out to be more than it first appears. But both Disney’s remake and A Tale of Terror decide that the mirror is directly in charge of whether the Evil Queen lives. In both versions, destroying the Magic Mirror ultimately leads to the Evil Queen’s death. The manner in which she dies may differ in each version, but it’s a particularly interesting coincidence when both movies already try to combine their miner and bandit storylines.

Snow White (Rachel Zegler) looking wondrously at a bird on her hand in Snow White (2025)

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At the same time, this also leads to the biggest difference between the two films. Gal Gadot’s Evil Queen and Sigourney Weaver’s version can hardly be compared. Gadot at least thought she controlled the mirror whereas Weaver was under its strangely independent control. Disney’s Snow White likely wasn’t intentionally taking cues from Snow White: A Tale of Terror. But the fact they share any similarities at all might suggest that Disney could be better off pursuing new stories rather than trying to rewrite tales that have already been written for decades.