Overview of Snow White’s Performance
- Disney’s Snow White has emerged as its lowest-grossing princess film, experiencing a decline in box office earnings each weekend.
- The film’s unique elements, such as CGI dwarfs and a reimagined heroine, have led to negative audience reactions.
- Projections indicate that Snow White might struggle to surpass $100 million in the U.S., resulting in significant financial losses for Disney.
Despite the tale of a princess, Disney’s latest rendition featuring Snow White has faced substantial challenges long before its release, especially given its lackluster box office performance after hitting theaters worldwide. As it stands three weekends into its run, the film is on course to become one of Disney’s notable financial failures.
This adaptation, part of Disney’s ongoing live-action reinterpretation of its classic animated films, draws its inspiration from the original 1937 animated Snow White. The movie features Rachel Zegler in the lead role, Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, and Andrew Burnap as the male lead. Criticism arose early when Zegler expressed her desire to mold Snow White into a modernized character less dependent on Prince Charming, a sentiment that resonated negatively with fans of the traditional story. Additionally, Disney’s choice to deploy CGI to portray the dwarfs, a beloved aspect of the original film, further incited discontent among audiences, adversely affecting the film’s financial outlook.
Snow White Faces Box Office Turmoil
Unprecedented -58% Drop in Third Weekend
The film’s initial weekend performance was disappointing, earning only $42.2 million domestically and $44 million in its debut three days. By the second weekend, it further plummeted to $14.2 million, recording an alarming -66% drop, which eclipses the decline experienced by Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (-46%). According to Box Office Mojo and box office expert Luiz Fernando on X, Snow White’s third weekend generated a mere $6.1 million in North America, dropping -56% after the film lost 450 theaters — marking it as the lowest third-weekend figure among Disney’s live-action princess films.
For comparative analysis, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil encountered a lesser -32% drop in its second weekend eventually grossing $113 million domestically and $491 million globally. Other Disney films such as Cruella, Dumbo, and Jungle Cruise recorded minor decreases of -38%, -48%, and -42%, respectively. Currently, Snow White has amassed $77 million in the U.S. and $90.9 million from international markets, bringing its total box office to $168 million. In stark contrast, the original 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs generated $418 million through various re-releases.
The film’s unfavorable review score — a B+ on CinemaScore and 40% on Rotten Tomatoes — coupled with public dissatisfaction related to Zegler’s comments has contributed to a dismal outlook for the Disney live-action remake. Analysts are now predicting a challenging path ahead, with doubts about its ability to surpass the $100 million mark in the U.S. Compounding these issues is the impressive box office performance from fabled competitors, notably the recent A Minecraft Movie, which has overshadowed any remaining enthusiasm for Snow White.
With a production budget of $250 million, the anticipated loss for Disney is estimated at $115 million. As a result, company’s executives have reportedly reconsidered the rapid development of a live-action Tangled, with the project being shelved. At this juncture, Snow White requires less than $20 million to surpass 2000’s 102 Dalmatians and $30 million to edge past 2018’s Christopher Robin, benchmarks essential for avoiding the title of lowest-grossing Disney remake in a non-pandemic setting. Although it’s likely to achieve these figures, they remain disappointingly low compared to its initial hype as one of the year’s most anticipated films.
Sources: Box Office Mojo, Luiz Fernando/X