Snow White’s Box Office Falls Flat Despite High Hopes
Disney’s latest live-action remake, ‘Snow White’, hit theaters with a thud, pulling in just $43 million at the domestic box office and $87.3 million worldwide. With a budget soaring past $240 million, those numbers sting. This isn’t the fairy-tale ending the studio dreamed of, and it’s got a lot of us scratching our heads about what went wrong.
The film had everything going for it on paper. A massive budget meant big sets, flashy effects, and a cast led by Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. Directed by Marc Webb, known for ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’, it was supposed to breathe new life into the 1937 classic. But the cash didn’t translate to crowds.
That $43 million opening in the U.S. is a far cry from what Disney’s used to with its live-action remakes. Compare it to ‘Beauty and the Beast’, which raked in $174 million on its debut weekend back in 2017, or even ‘The Little Mermaid’ in 2023, which started with $95 million. ‘Snow White’ barely keeps pace with ‘Dumbo’ from 2019, a film that opened at $45 million and still ended up labeled a letdown.
So why the stumble? Trouble started brewing long before the lights dimmed in theaters. The movie faced a storm of backlash from the moment Zegler was cast. Some folks didn’t like that she, with her Colombian-Polish roots, was playing the famously fair-skinned princess. Then there was the chatter about the dwarfs—or rather, the ‘magical creatures’ as they’re called now. Instead of casting actors with dwarfism, Disney went with CGI characters, a move that sparked debate after Peter Dinklage called out the original story’s portrayal as outdated. Add in Zegler’s comments about the 1937 film being too old-fashioned—dissing the prince as a stalker—and you’ve got a recipe for turning off the nostalgic crowd.
The budget didn’t help either. At over $240 million, it’s one of Disney’s priciest remakes, right up there with ‘The Lion King’ at $260 million and ‘The Little Mermaid’ at $250 million. Those films, though, had massive payoffs—‘The Lion King’ cleared $1.6 billion worldwide. ‘Snow White’ would need to hit around $600 million just to break even, and with $87.3 million globally so far, that’s a steep climb. Reshoots and delays only jacked up the costs, making the stakes even higher.
I can’t help but wonder if the controversy drowned out the magic. Zegler’s outspoken moments, like her sharp words about Donald Trump after the 2024 election, didn’t sit well with everyone. Gadot, meanwhile, caught flak for her stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict, adding more fuel to the fire. Disney even scaled back the premiere, skipping the usual red-carpet fanfare, which might’ve hinted they knew the tide was turning.
The audience response hasn’t been kind either. Early screenings earned a B+ CinemaScore, which sounds okay until you see ‘Dumbo’ got an A-. Critics gave it a lukewarm 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, though viewers were a bit gentler at 74%. Still, that’s not enough to spark the word-of-mouth buzz a film this expensive needs. Families, usually Disney’s bread and butter, didn’t show up in droves—maybe because Snow White, at nearly 90 years old, doesn’t have the pull of a Simba or an Ariel for today’s kids.
A tough pill to swallow—that’s what this debut feels like for Disney. They’ve had hits like ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’, which started slow at $35 million but climbed past $700 million globally. ‘Snow White’ might still find its legs, but right now, it’s a grim tale of big dreams and small returns. We’ll see if it can claw its way out of the woods, but the clock’s ticking on this one.