Summary
Snow Whitemay be fair, but her latest movie has been battling uphill long before its cinematic debut, grossly underperforming once on worldwide screens. Three weekends in, it’s in more trouble than ever before and about to become one of Disney’s biggest misfires commercially.
Snow WhiteisDisney’s latest live-action adaptation of its classic animations, this time of the 1937 animation of the same name. It stars Rachel Zegler as the titular princess, Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, and Andrew Burnap as Snow White’s love interest — a Prince Charming of some sort.The movie’s troubling times began whenZegler’s comments about the characterat a press tour went viral. Her desire to modernize the Disney princess into a heroine devoid of Prince Charming didn’t sit well with lovers of the original. Disney’s decision to include CGI-ed dwarfs — seen by some as the true heart of the films — instead of casting real actors further angered fans and doomed the movie’s commercial prospects.
Snow White Is in Box Office Freefall and the Lowest Grossing Disney Princess
A -58% Drop on Weekend 3 Is Unprecedented for a Disney Remake
Snow White’s opening weekend was already disappointingwhen it posted $42.2 million domestically and $44 million in its first three days. The movie’s second weekend only gobbled up $14.2 million at the U.S. box office — an unprecedented -66% drop for a Disney live-action, surpassingMaleficent 2’s -46%. According toBox Office Mojoand corroborated by box office analystLuiz Fernando on X,Snow White’s third weekend grossed just $6.1 million in the North American marketafter losing 450 theaters on Friday — plummeting -56% from the previous weekend. With these numbers, it’s once again the lowest third-weekend drop among live-action Disney princesses.
For reference,Maleficent 2dropped -32% in its second weekend, eventually bowing with $113 million domestic and $491 million global;Cruellalost -38%;Dumbo, -48%; andJungle Cruise-42%. As of this writing,Snow Whitehas garnered $77 million in North America and $90.9 million in 53 overseas markets for an allied cume of $168 million. The originalSnow White and the Seven Dwarfsearned $418 million over the course of its several re-releases.
Devastating reviews — a B+ on CinemaScore and 40% on Rotten Tomatoes are anything but encouraging — and widespread dissatisfaction among the general audience with Zegler’s supposed disrespect for her character has led to a Disney live-action remake that analysts predict would struggle to cross $100 million in the United States. It becomes more compounded when one considersthe insane box office debut ofA Minecraft Movie, which is already sucking any remaining steam thatSnow Whitehad left in its tanks.
Snow White’s hefty $250 million price tag means that the movie would set Disney at least $115 million in losses by some estimates. This commercial outlook has reportedly discouraged Disney executives from fast-tracking aTangledlive-action movie, with the project already reportedly canned. As it stands,Snow Whiteneeds less than $20 million to beat 2000’s102 Dalmatiansand $30 million to edge past 2018’sChristopher Robina benchmark that would spare it the title of lowest-grossing non-pandemic-era Disney remake. It probably will, but that’s an extremely low bar for what was once positioned as one of the most anticipated movies of the year when it was first announced.
