‘Snow White’ Opens Soft With $43 Million at Box Office

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‘Snow White’ Opens Soft With $43 Million at Box Office/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ Disney’s live-action Snow White debuted with a modest $43 million domestic opening, falling short of expectations. The $250 million production faced controversy and lukewarm reviews, hindering its box office performance. Despite global earnings of $87.3 million, the film’s future remains uncertain as scrutiny grows over Disney’s remake strategy.

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Robert De Niro as Vito Genovese, left, and Robert De Niro as Frank Costello in a scene from “The Alto Knights.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

‘Snow White’ Box Office Woes: Quick Looks

Opening Weekend (U.S. & Canada): $43 million
Global Opening Total: $87.3 million
Production Budget: Over $250 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 43%
CinemaScore: B+ from audiences
Main Issues: CGI dwarfs, Zegler backlash, weak reviews
Overseas Performance: $44.3 million
Comparison: Opened below Dumbo ($46M) and Cinderella ($67.9M)
Disney Strategy: Faces new scrutiny amid future remakes
Competing Films: Little direct competition in coming weeks

‘Snow White’ Opens Soft With $43 Million at Box Office

Deep Look

NEW YORK — Snow White, Disney’s latest attempt at reviving its classic animated vault, opened to a lackluster $43 million at the North American box office this weekend — a tepid return for a film with a reported budget exceeding $250 million.

The live-action reimagining, directed by The Amazing Spider-Man’s Marc Webb and starring Rachel Zegler, faced a rocky road to release. Beset by social media backlash, political controversy, reshoots, and a delayed premiere, the film arrives with more media baggage than fairy-tale charm.

International markets brought in another $44.3 million, giving Snow White a global launch of $87.3 million — short of the $100 million Disney had hoped for going into the weekend.

Reviews have done little to boost the film’s trajectory. Critics panned it, giving it a 43% “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes, with many pointing to an overreliance on CGI and a muddled tone that failed to capture the magic of the 1937 animated original.

Unlike past live-action remakes such as The Lion King ($1.6 billion worldwide) or Beauty and the Beast ($1.2 billion), Snow White fell below Disney’s usual standard. Its domestic debut lagged behind Dumbo ($46 million in 2019) and well behind Cinderella ($67.9 million in 2015).

Controversy surrounding the film’s modernization played a major role in its underwhelming performance. Actor Peter Dinklage publicly criticized Disney for its handling of the dwarfs, calling the remake plans “backward.” The studio responded by removing “and the Seven Dwarfs” from the title and rendering the dwarf characters using CGI — a decision that pleased few.

Rachel Zegler’s outspoken political and cultural commentary on social media also drew criticism, especially from conservative audiences. The resulting polarization, combined with mediocre marketing momentum, led Disney to scale back the red carpet premiere.

Despite the slow start, Disney is no stranger to long box office legs. Recent titles like Mufasa: The Lion King started with a modest $35.4 million but eventually surpassed $700 million worldwide. Whether Snow White can find similar staying power remains uncertain, especially without major competition until the summer blockbuster season.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. suffered a flop with The Alto Knights, a $45 million period drama starring Robert De Niro in dual roles. The film scraped together just $3.2 million from over 2,600 theaters.

Also falling short was Magazine Dreams, the long-delayed drama starring Jonathan Majors, which earned $700,000 after being dropped by Searchlight Pictures. The film was released quietly following Majors’ conviction on misdemeanor assault charges last year.

It all adds up to a tough year for the box office. According to Comscore, domestic ticket sales are down nearly 7% from 2024 and a significant 38.6% from 2019, the last full pre-pandemic movie year.