Disney

The new live-action "Snow White" movie is sure gonna look different from what most people remember about the fairy tale classic -- 'cause there are hardly any dwarves to be found.

A handful of on-set photos were published this week -- with production going down in the London area -- and based on the images here ... you can see Disney's made a conscious decision to lose most of the heigh-ho crew and replace them with random, ordinary people.

Take a look ... there's only 1 little person featured in the 7-man (and now woman) brigade. There's also a man in blue leading the charge who doesn't seem to be a "dwarf" himself.

As for the others ... aside from the shorter guy toward the front, the rest of the dwarves are of typical height. In fact, the last one in the very back actually looks to be quite tall. The dwarves, as it were, are also of mixed races and genders ... but it's very clear they're the ones that Snow White meets in the woods and befriends through her magical adventure.

Speaking of SW ... the woman who's seen here in the red hood is actually Rachel Zegler's stand-in. No word on why Zegler herself wasn't on set for this day of shooting, but she's already been spotted out in the whole Snow White getup ... looking kinda Disneyland-esque.

Also worth noting, Disney has tried clarifying what's being depicted in these pics. They say there are 2 stand-ins for a couple of their main actors -- Zegler and a guy named Andrew Burnap -- and that these photos weren't official film photos. Sooo ... pickup shots then?

What Disney appears to concede in their ever-evolving statements about these pics is that this is, in fact, what the movie will look like as it pertains to portraying the classic dwarves as we know them ... aka, they're pivoting away from having 7 "dwarfs" on camera together.

Remember, they actually said they'd be doing this on the heels of Peter Dinklage's viral tirade about the film ... when he went on Marc Maron's podcast to rail against the fact they were going to feature dwarves in a manner he characterized as backwards and insulting.

While some were outraged about the fact that Zegler, a Latina, would be playing Snow White ... he was more concerned about showing little people in a demeaning way, and Disney heard him loud and clear ... changing course. At the time, they said ... "To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community."

Hollywood is officially shut down ... the union representing actors is now on strike, which means actors will join writers on the picket lines for the first time in more than half a century.

SAG-AFTRA's national board met Thursday morning and voted unanimously to strike after its contract ran out Wednesday night, following a 2-week extension at the end of June to keep negotiations with the studios going.

Both sides of the battle agreed Tuesday to have a federal mediator join negotiation talks in a last-ditch effort, but that failed to get the union and the studios on the same page.

You'll recall, roughly 98% of union members voted in favor of a strike last month if a deal wasn't struck ... and that vote came weeks after the Writers Guild stopped working.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher called the studios' responses to their demands "insulting and disrespectful" after the contract expired ... adding, “Until they do negotiate in good faith, we cannot begin to reach a deal.”

There are some pretty strict rules that come with this strike ... starting at midnight tonight, actors cannot work on film and TV projects across the globe -- actors also aren't allowed to do any promotions for upcoming projects ... which includes press junkets and premieres.

The big London premiere for "Oppenheimer" happened Thursday, and the studio pushed the event up an hour so stars like Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, and more aren't going against union rules.

The massive cast stepped onto the red carpet, but they weren't present inside the theater -- with director Christopher Nolan saying they left to gear up for the strike.

Actors also can't participate in panel discussions, including those going down at the ultra-popular San Diego Comic-Con, which kicks off next week.

Actors and writers last joined forces on the picket line way back in 1960 -- for context, Ronald Reagan was the president of SAG at that time.

FYI, actors are asking for fair streaming residuals, improved working conditions, and increased minimum rates, among other things ... and as you know, the WGA began fighting for much of the same when it put pencils down at the beginning of May.

Disney CEO Bob Iger took a shot at writers and actors Thursday morning, saying they're demands aren't realistic -- adding the challenges they're adding to the industry are "very disruptive."

Coco Lee, famous for voicing Mulan in the Mandarin version of Disney's "Mulan," has died by suicide.

Coco's sisters, Carol and Nancy, say she attempted suicide at home Sunday and was sent to a hospital, where she slipped into a coma and died on Wednesday despite attempts to save her life.

Coco suffered from depression for years, her family says, and she sought professional help ... but her condition drastically deteriorated over the last few months and she ultimately took her own life.

In addition to her work with Disney, Coco performed an Oscar-nominated song, "A Love Before Time," in the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as part of a three-decade career as a singer.

Coco was born in Hong Kong but attended middle school and high school in San Francisco, where she was crowned 1991's Miss Teen Chinatown.

She was the first Chinese singer to go big in America, with her song "Do You Want My Love" reaching No. 4 on Billboard's Hot Dance Breakout chart way back in 1999.

Coco's family is remembering her for working "tirelessly to open up a new world for Chinese singers in the international music scene, and she went all out to shine for the Chinese."

She was 48.

RIP

Harrison Ford's final rodeo as Indy doesn't seem to be drumming up much interest -- the box office numbers, so far, are looking bad ... and it might be Disney's own doing.

Disney's latest, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," raked in a measly $24 mil Friday -- and that means the film is on track for just $60-$65 million through Sunday (and about $80 mil or so through Tuesday) ... which, by most accounts, is not a very good start at all.

These tepid projections haven't wavered much since a couple months ago -- when the movie premiered at Cannes -- and that's a bad sign ... at least from the outside looking in.

'Dial of Destiny' reportedly had a budget of upwards of $300 million (not including promo/marketing) -- so it would have to have long legs at the theaters for Disney and co. to make their money back, let alone turn a profit on it. For now, it doesn't seem like that'll happen ... especially with a few huge blockbusters on the way for the month of July.

Tom Cruise's newest 'Mission: Impossible' is hitting the big screen soon, as is "Barbie" and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" -- all of which are expected to do fairly decently.

As for why Harrison's flick appears to be primed to be a dud ... there are a lot of theories. Some say there's 'Indiana Jones' fatigue in 2023 (HF is reprising the role in his 80s), others say this movie caters to an older audience (who might be harder to get to a theater).

One interesting take has to do with the fact that Disney started letting the film -- which has gotten middling to bad reviews -- be screened pretty damn early ... and that, perhaps, bad word of mouth has caught up to it now. There's also the fact that Spielberg isn't directing this one ... although he did sign off and gave his blessing to the script/the new director.

Whatever the case, folks aren't itching to see an older (and, at times, a digitally de-aged) Dr. Jones take on Nazis anymore. The appetite for that adventure was left in the 20th century.

Dan Benson -- a former star on "Wizards of Waverly Place" -- went from child star to porn star ... and he says he couldn't be happier over the career change.

The ex-Disney Channel actor -- who used to play Zeke Beakerman and work alongside Selena Gomez between 2007 and 2012 -- hopped on TikTok to provide a mental health update ... explaining he was feeling great about his pivot into adult entertainment.

He says he has no regrets about the kinda stuff he's doing on camera now, and that he was even surprised about some of the reactions he's gotten ... which have mostly been positive.

DB explains that while he thought he'd be met with shame and condemnation, he's actually experienced a lot of love and empowerment -- and he's glad the stigma associated with porn isn't being hurled his way. On the job front, there too he's found a healthy environment.

Dan goes on to say he's asked to do stuff all the time that he's not necessarily comfortable with, but now finds himself in a position to say no -- which he says is often respected.

And, the cherry on top ... him being supported, encouraged and, sometimes, approached by fans in public -- who he says have been nothing but lovely to him since he left the Mouse House. As he puts it, Dan feels like a "badass" these days ... so he's in a solid place.

Dan uses OnlyFans, among other X-rated platforms ... and has embraced his sensuality.

It just goes to show, there's lots of ways to make money these days -- and even the untraditional ways are being viewed in a different light than ever before.

Before these two kids chilling in Wyckoff, New Jersey were front and center on the stage, they were just hanging around town with their other brothers, and from a young age ... they were hustling and jump-starting their careers in showbiz.

Yes, these guys have millions of fans who come and watch them perform on stage, but they never seem to get "jealous" of each other. And, even though their comical Disney days are no longer ... they still possess their goofy personalities on social media!

Need one more hint? "I'm A Sucker For You!"

Rebel Wilson is NOT planning a blowout wedding at Disneyland, despite a report to the contrary ... she says she's getting married somewhere else, and it's not related to an old Mouse House ban.

The actress, who attended the launch party for her new dating app, Fluid, on Thursday, tells TMZ ... she and her fianceé Ramona Agruma's decision to forgo a Disney fairy tale on their big day has nothing to do with the fact Rebel was once banned from Disneyland for 30 days.

It's pretty obvious Rebel holds no grudge ... she popped the question to Ramona while at the Happiest Place on Earth for Valentine's Day -- but she tells us she was never planning to exchange their nuptials there, despite a recent report she's planning a "no-expenses-spared wedding" at Walt Disney's OG park.

Instead, Rebel tells us she and Ramona will say "I do" somewhere else -- they don't know exactly where yet, but it won't be Disneyland.

Rebel, who hosted the party with her best friend, Emmy-winning TV presenter Carly Steel, says their engagement was epic and special, and she's thankful park officials roped off a section on a busy day ... so she could propose in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

As for that old ban -- if you're unaware, Rebel revealed earlier this year that she once snapped a selfie while inside one of the park's secret bathrooms -- a big no-no -- and was shut out for 30 days.

She says it was a few years back, and Disneyland honchos actually asked her when she wanted to serve the 30 days, and she picked a month when she was busy filming.

Elizabeth Olsen has been real honest about her time with Marvel -- namely, feeling like she invested far too many years working for them -- and now ... she's hitting that point home.

The actress -- famous for playing Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch throughout the 'Avengers' movies -- got candid yet again this weekend in a sit-down interview with Meghann Fahy, as part of Variety's 'Actors on Actors' series. One quote of hers is getting a double-take online.

Fahy asks Olsen if she stays up at night missing Wanda -- or playing her, presumably -- and EO's reaction is telling. She says she doesn't ... but you gotta watch *how* she says it.

There's a little bit of sass and saltiness in her response, and you can tell she truly means it. As she goes on to explain, she's played that character for the better part of 10 years, and she's more than ready to put Wanda's stories on the bookshelf ... at least for now.

Olsen adds that she's proud of the work she did with Kevin Feige and co. ... and feels content with letting those projects speak for themselves -- including "WandaVision," which was a huge Disney+ hit that focused solely on her role, with a full-fledged backstory.

So, her take here seems to be two-fold -- yes, she's over it and has no desire to link up again anytime soon ... but also, she's grateful for the opportunity to have been a superhero.

BTW, her response here about missing Wanda is very much in line with other comments she's made of late about Marvel. She's been on the record over the past year or so -- via several outlets -- saying that she wishes she would've only given the Mouse House one year of her services as opposed to several ... as there were times she was frustrated.

She's said she felt, at times, like she missed out on other interesting opportunities -- remember, she comes from an indie film background -- that she might've liked to have pursued. But, because she was under contract with Marvel, she had to pass on 'em.

The new 'Spider-Man' movie went gangbusters at the box office this weekend -- hauling in a bundle ... and proving that having 2 studio parents for this IP might actually be best.

Of course, we're talking about "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" ... which took the top spot by a mile over the past three days -- with a final tally of about $120.5 million in ticket sales domestically. That's the 2nd best box office of 2023 ... behind 'Super Mario Bros.'

It's easily the money-maker of the summer thus far ... and the good news is that it exceeded expectations by a ton. 'Across the Spider-Verse' was projected to bring in just $80M-$90M ... but it blew well past that, and lands as one of the best-performing 'Spider-Man' flicks ever.

Not just that, but the reviews are off the charts ... with many calling it the best 'Spider-Man' installment and 'Spider-Man' story told in modern times. So, what do we make of all this???

There's a couple takeaways -- which Twitter seems to somewhat agree with -- and the first is ... Sony holding on to some of the 'Spider-Man' rights over the years has, perhaps, turned out to be for the best. Clearly, they partner with Marvel for all things Spidey ... but many say they've kept the character/IP grounded, despite Disney's overly-grand CBM aspirations.

The other fascinating element here is that Sony/Disney has been able to achieve true diversity in a character that has long been considered a typical white male in Peter Parker.

With the Miles Morales character -- who's Black/Puerto Rican -- there's a new face to Spider-Man (not to mention all the other Spider-Men in the movie) ... and there was little to no outrage over it. Of course, a lot of that might have to do with the fact that Miles and co. are comic canon ... so shout out to the writers who created these characters a long time ago!

It's interesting ... there've been a number of actors who've played Spider-Man (both live-action and animated) over the years -- but Tom Holland says Shameik Moore's Morales might, in fact, be the best out of all of them. He said as much anyway in a recent interview.

Galyn Susman -- the longtime Disney producer who's credited with saving "Toy Story 2" -- just got the boot alongside several other Pixar employees ... and fans are pissed.

The news came down Saturday from Reuters, which reported Susman was one of 75 Pixar workers who recently gotten the axe in mass layoffs. She was one of 3 key Pixar people to be let go ... the others included Michael Agulnek -- Pixar's VP of worldwide publicity -- and 'Lightyear' director Angus MacLane, who was involved in other Pixar flicks too.

The firings are reportedly tied to the bomb that was last year's 'Lightyear' ... a movie based on the "real" Buzz Lightyear, voiced by Chris Evans. It had a budget of about $200 mil, and only made $226 mil at the worldwide box office ... not to mention middling reviews.

While the film didn't do well, many are saying that scapegoating -- and ultimately canning -- the execs/producers tied to its development is cold-blooded ... especially as it pertains to Galyn, who played a very important in preserving what was left of 'TS2' at the time.

It's the stuff of legends -- and this story's been repeated several times by Disney execs over the years. There was some kind of glitch in Disney's computers that literally deleted upwards of 90% of the movie back then as it was about a year out from its imminent release date.

The studio was scrambling to preserve whatever was left, but from the looks of it ... they were going to have to start from scratch -- that is, until Galyn came to the rescue with a backup copy ... which she fortunately had in her possession due to her WFH/maternity leave.

In the end, Disney remade the movie anyway -- creating a different version from what Galyn had saved -- but her extra files undoubtedly saved them a lot of time/work/money.

Sergio Calderón, who starred in numerous films, including "Men In Black" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," has died.

Calderón passed away Thursday morning surrounded by his family after he was previously hospitalized with pneumonia, a rep told "ET." His cause of death has not been disclosed.

Calderón enjoyed a long career in Hollywood, collecting more than 50 film and TV credits dating back to the 1970s. Two of his most notable roles were as Captain Vallenueva in 'At World's End' (2007) and Jose — a.k.a. the "head on a stick" guy — in 'Men in Black' (1997).

He also landed parts in "The Missing" (2003), "The Ruins" (2008) and "Little Fockers" (2010). He retired in 2022 after performances in his last three projects: "The Seven Faces of Jane," "Better Things" and "The Resort."

Calderón was 77.

Safe to say Serena Williams' 5-year-old daughter is a big fan of "The Little Mermaid" ... Olympia LOST IT after she got a Halle Bailey "Ariel" doll, and the entire adorable reaction was captured on video!

The video, which was shared on Olympia's Instagram, shows dad Alexis Ohanian handing his daughter a package from Amazon.

"Momma and poppa wanted to get this for you," Ohanian said.

When Olympia realized it was Bailey as Ariel, she (literally) jumped for joy ... and started screaming hysterically.

"Yay! 'Little Mermaid!'" Olympia yelled. "Thank you!"

Olympia explained it was her first LM doll ... and even broke down how she was going to play with Ariel for Mom and Dad.

The 2023 live-action version of "The Little Mermaid" has been a hit at the box office ... with Bailey recently celebrating the movie being number one in the world.

The movie reportedly grossed over $164 million globally over Memorial Day weekend, according to Deadline.

Of course, Olympia also made news a few days ago, losing it when Serena told her she was going to be a big sister!

The 23-time Grand Slam champ said Olympia had wanted a baby brother/sister ... and she's finally getting her wish.

Something about the new live-action version of "The Little Mermaid" isn't sitting right with singer Paloma Faith ... who says the movie's plot is a really hard one to explain to her kiddos.

Paloma took to social media over the weekend, first congratulating Halle Bailey for her performance in the new Disney flick -- before dragging the story's main focus, saying "I don’t want my kids to think it’s ok to give up your entire voice and your powers to love a man."

She added, "Wtf is this s***?! Not what I want to be teaching next gen women at all.” Of course, she's referring to Ariel giving up her own voice to become a human to be with her love interest, Prince Eric.

For those unaware, it's the same trope that was used in the original 1989 version, so it seems Paloma might've forgotten the story before watching this new adaptation.

However, Halle told Edition earlier this year that her new version "definitely changed that perspective of just her wanting to leave the ocean for a boy ... It’s way bigger than that. It’s about herself, her purpose, her freedom, her life and what she wants.”

Looks like Jennifer Garner is mixin’ pretty well with her ex Ben Affleck and his new boo Jennifer Lopez -- because she took to the happiest place on Earth over the weekend with not only her daughter, but J-Lo’s kid, too.

The actress was in full chaperone mode at Disneyland Sunday, wrangling a group of teens at the beloved theme park ... having some fun with her youngest daughter, Seraphina, and some of her pals -- as well as Lopez's 15-year-old kid, Emme, whom the singer shares with Marc Anthony.

Seems to be no issues over here with the new family dynamic ... JG even got them all to snap some pics in front of the castle -- with Emme and Seraphina cheesing right next to each other!

As you know, Affleck and Garner pulled the plug on their decade-long marriage back in 2015, with Ben and J-Lo tying the knot last year.

The makeup artist who gave Ursula her look in "The Little Mermaid" says the blowback he's gotten from members of the LGBTQ community is ridiculous ... that only someone from that community should have been tapped for the job.

Peter King, a seasoned makeup artist, has been under fire from some LGBTQ members, who groused Melissa McCarthy's sea witch character -- inspired by drag queen Divine -- should not have been done up at the hands of anyone outside the community.

King went on the offensive, saying, "I find that very offensive. Why can't I do as good a job as a queer makeup artist?"

Mr. King is seasoned at his craft, doing makeup for "The Lord of the Rings," "Star Wars: Episode VIII -- The Last Jedi, and "Spider-Man." He said, "I personally don't get it. Yes, I'm very old now, so that's fine, I get that too, but you know, a makeup artist or makeup designer could design makeup, they don't have to have an attachment to the nature of what they're doing."

Meanwhile, the #1 film this weekend -- expected to top $120M -- had a famous guest in one of the theaters ... Halle Bailey, who posted video of herself in disguise taking in the action.

And, speaking of action, a fight broke out at one theater ... unsure what it was about, but fists were flying -- adult fists -- which is crazy, right?

A sign of the times.

Jodi Benson's looks over the years are out of this world!

Watch and you'll see ... a 38-year-old version of the first 'Little Mermaid' looking absolutely fin-tastic at the premiere of "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea" in Hollywood, California back in 2000 (left). This was over a decade after the release of the original Disney classic film.

And, 23 years later, the stunning actress recently ran a dinglehopper through her hair and hit the premiere for the live-action, "The Little Mermaid," where she looked like no time had gone by (right).

Jodi has shined like a trove full of whozits and whatzits for decades, but the question is ...