Disney’s latest live-action remake, “Snow White,” has emerged as the fairest of them all with a leading $43 million in its domestic box office debut. However, despite this notable sum, the film has opened to a rather sleepy start. Overseas, “Snow White” also underperformed, bringing in $44.3 million, resulting in a global launch total of $87.3 million. Initially, projections had hoped for the film to cross the $100 million mark globally by the end of its opening weekend.
The release of “Snow White” has not been without its share of controversies. The film faced criticism over its portrayal of the seven dwarves and modifications to the nearly century-old storyline. Additionally, calls for boycotts arose due to the public stances of co-stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot regarding the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. These controversies, coupled with costly reshoots that added millions to the film’s budget, compelled Disney to scale back the Los Angeles premiere, omitting traditional red carpet interviews.
Despite the backlash, analysts suggest that the negative publicity may not have significantly influenced ticket sales. Senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian stated, “This is a situation that is never ideal. In the case of “Snow White,” kids and families likely just wanted to see a PG film and were perhaps unaware of the controversies.”
While “Snow White” achieved a respectable opening, it recorded the lowest domestic debut for Disney’s live-action reimaginings to date, falling below even 2019’s “Dumbo,” which debuted with $45 million (not adjusted for inflation). Previous remakes, including “The Little Mermaid,” “The Jungle Book,” “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “The Lion King,” all opened above the $100 million threshold. Notably, three of these films—2019's “Aladdin,” 2017's “Beauty and the Beast,” and 2019's “The Lion King”—achieved the status of billion-dollar blockbusters.
The future box office trajectory of “Snow White” remains uncertain. Whether the film is labeled a success or a flop will depend heavily on its staying power in theaters. If it follows the path of “Dumbo,” which grossed a mere $353 million globally, it may indicate that audiences are growing weary of Disney’s live-action remakes.
Nevertheless, Disney is optimistic about “Snow White” finding success akin to last December’s “Mufasa,” which opened with a modest $35 million but ultimately climbed to $252 million domestically and $716 million globally. Factors such as brand familiarity and limited competition for family audiences could favor “Snow White.” The film has also received a solid A- grade from female audiences and a B+ from general viewers in CinemaScore exit polls. Notably, female viewers represented nearly 70% of the opening weekend attendees.
In addition to “Snow White,” the weekend saw Robert De Niro's R-rated mob drama “The Alto Knights” falter with a disappointing $3.2 million from 2,800 cinemas, landing in sixth place on the box office charts. This Warner Bros. film, which had a production budget of about $45 million, is already shaping up to be one of the year’s biggest flops. Meanwhile, the bodybuilder drama “Magazine Dreams,” starring Jonathan Majors, stumbled with just $700,000 from 800 theaters.
On a brighter note, Steven Soderbergh’s thriller “Black Bag” performed well in its second weekend, grossing $4.4 million and rising to second place in the box office rankings. The film has achieved a total of $14.9 million thus far, benefiting from positive reviews.
As Disney's “Snow White” provides a much-needed boost to the marketplace, it’s worth noting that overall box office revenues remain concerning, trailing nearly 7% behind 2024 and 39% behind 2019, according to Comscore. Anticipation builds for upcoming releases like “A Minecraft Movie” on April 4 and “Thunderbolts” on May 2, which are expected to inject new life into theaters. Comscore’s Dergarabedian remains hopeful, stating, “We will be singing a much more positive tune in just a few short weeks.”
