Disney’s Snow White’s controversies to increase severalfold in the years leading up to the film’s release.
Things didn’t end when the movie came out, either. A great deal of Snow White’s review bombing stemmed from longstanding complaints that Disney’s harsher critics had been holding onto for some time, but negative to middling professional reviews failed to win over prospective audiences who were previously on the fence. As a result, Snow White began underperforming as soon as opening weekend. Considering the movie’s extremely high budget, this put the film in immediate jeopardy of flopping. Unfortunately for Disney, that struggle’s only gotten worse over the past few weeks of Snow White’s theatrical run.
Snow White’s Current Box Office Explained
It’s Not Currently On Track To Earn Back Its Budget
With an estimated production budget of $270 million and a marketing budget of around $70 million, Snow White was already on an uphill climb to so much as break even. The movie’s opening weekend grossed $42.2 million, and things only dropped from there. While Alto Knights’ box office was worse than Snow White’s on release weekend, Deadline predicts that Snow White’s week four earnings could drop as low as $2.8 million after losing 1,210 theaters. This would bring the domestic gross to about $82 million, with The Numbers reporting the current worldwide gross as $182.4 million.
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It's worth noting that the box office alone doesn’t determine whether a movie truly earns its money back. Merchandising s for a lot, particularly on heavily marketed movies. There’s also a chance to make up the difference with digital sales and rentals later down the line. But, given the strength of Zegler’s voice, Snow White’s soundtrack seems like it would be the likeliest side merch to boost the film’s earnings. Unfortunately, Forbes notes that Snow White’s album failed to break the top ten in any Billboard charts, peaking at #11 in US Kid Albums and #19 in US Top Soundtracks.
Snow White Could Become The 3rd Disney Live-Action Remake To Not Make $200M
Two Other Remakes Fell Short Due To Outside Circumstances
It can be hard to tell where a movie’s box office will finish. Mufasa: The Lion King’s box office was lower on that film’s opening weekend than Snow White’s first weekend gross, but it went on to earn significantly more whereas Snow White seems to have languished. Even so, it could have done worse. Disney’s worst-performing remake thus far has been 2020’s Mulan, which only grossed $69.9 million against a $200 million budget. Granted, Mulan was released amid the COVID pandemic and benefited from a paid Premier Access release on Disney+, so its box office doesn’t tell the full story.
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Two years before Mulan’s release, Christopher Robin became Disney’s first recent live-action adaptation to bank less than $200 million. However, it barely fell short and likely profited or broke even with earnings of $197.7 million against a budget of about $70 million. That’s an impressive feat considering Christopher Robin wasn’t released in China, where Hollywood films often earn a large chunk of their international box office. Snow White’s earnings aren’t far behind Christopher Robin’s at the moment, so there is a slim chance the film could break $200 million, even if it still loses more money in the process.
Why Snow White Has Struggled At The Box Office
Years Of Controversy Didn’t Do The Movie Many Favors
So many audiences have grown increasingly irritated with the slate of live-action remakes that Snow White might have struggled to stumble over the $200 million mark even without the controversies. But while many have written off the hatred toward Snow White as an extension of the racism Zegler faced when she was first cast, numerous other issues have sprung up that have nothing to do with the main character’s race. Among the biggest was Snow White’s dwarf controversy, which was blown up to the point that Peter Dinklage still receives blame for Disney not casting more dwarf actors.
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Peter Dinklage obviously doesn’t make casting decisions for Disney, and many have speculated that his comments were blown out of proportion. But he’s not the only actor whose comments have sparked controversy. Zegler drew harsh criticism for calling the 1937 animated film “weird” and characterizing Prince Florian as a stalker, statements that many thought were disrespectful toward a beloved classic that had earned her a lucrative role. These comments were also blown out of proportion to a degree, but many took Zegler’s misinterpretation of the original film’s events as a sign that she was ill-prepared for the role.
Disney's Original Live-Action Snow White Movie Plan Would've Been A Lot Less Controversial Than Rachel Zegler & Gal Gadot's Remake
Disney’s Snow White has become one of the company’s most controversial films, yet it could have avoided this fate by sticking to its original premise.
These issues alone led to swarms of review-bombing. Unfortunately, the real reviews still leaned mostly toward the negative. Many loved Zegler but found the visuals uninteresting and criticized Gal Gadot’s Evil Queen. This blurred the line between the honest reviews and the fakes. Even those who accepted Snow White as the latest of many movies that have been review-bombed had been given a seed of doubt. Many viewers who hadn’t cared about the controversies were now seeing professional criticisms of the film’s actual quality, and a number of people were suddenly less enthused about buying a ticket as a result.
Disney’s Next Live-Action Remake Should Easily Make More Than $200 Million
Early Reactions To Marketing Have Already Been Much Better
After its well-received trailer, early Lilo & Stitch box office projections are predicting the movie to make $100 million in its opening weekend alone. That would already get it halfway to beating the milestone that Snow White is limping its way toward after four weeks. It helps that Lilo & Stitch isn’t carrying the weight of Snow White’s multiple controversies. Disney has received backlash for not casting a dark-skinned Hawaiian native as Nani, but it hasn’t come close to the furor that arose over the casting of The Little Mermaid or Snow White.
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If it does well, Lilo & Stitch might reopen the door to another live-action remake with strong chances of success. After Snow White failed to earn high marks at the box office, Disney put the live-action Tangled remake on hold. Given rumors that Disney was looking at Sabrina Carpenter to star, it’s unlikely Tangled would have shared the same casting backlash Disney experienced with Zegler. If complaints about Lilo & Stitch’s Nani fail to significantly hurt the film’s box office, there’s every chance for a successful Tangled remake to follow and keep the remake machine alive and humming.
Sources: Deadline, The Numbers, Forbes
A live-action adaptation of the classic fairy tale. The film follows Snow White as she escapes into the forest and seeks refuge with seven dwarfs to elude her jealous stepmother, the wicked Queen, who is threatened by Snow White's suring beauty.
- Cast
- Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, Andrew Burnap, Martin Klebba, Ansu Kabia, Dujonna Gift-Simms, Joshmaine Joseph, Lukus Alexander, Misa Koide, Katie Hardwick, Dean Nolan, Kathryn Akin, Leon Ung, Emilia Faucher
- Director
- Marc Webb
- Writers
- Erin Cressida Wilson, Wilhelm Grimm
- Producers
- Callum McDougall, Marc Platt
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