Disney's Snow White Remake Struggles at Box Office

Snow White, directed by Marc Webb known for The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2, faced a challenging start at the box office over its opening weekend. According to Comscore, the film grossed $43 million domestically, marking it as the second highest opening of 2025 so far, only surpassed by the MCU's Captain America: Brave New World. Despite topping this week's chart, Snow White fell short of the $45 million opening achieved by the live-action Dumbo in 2019 and did not meet pre-release estimates.

To put things in perspective, other Disney live-action remakes have seen much stronger openings, with films like 2019's The Lion King, 2017's Beauty and the Beast, 2016's The Jungle Book, and 2023's The Little Mermaid all surpassing $100 million in their domestic debuts.

Internationally, Snow White also had a subdued start, earning $44.3 million over the opening weekend, resulting in a global total of $87.3 million as per Comscore's estimates.

Snow White is a reimagining of Disney's 1937 animated classic, featuring Rachel Zegler, a musical theater veteran, in the titular role, and Gal Gadot, known for her role as Wonder Woman, as the Evil Queen. The film's reported production budget exceeds $250 million, placing it in a precarious financial position given its initial box office performance, especially when factoring in marketing expenses.

However, there's a glimmer of hope for Snow White. Disney's The Lion King prequel, Mufasa: The Lion King, which opened to a modest $35.4 million domestically, went on to amass over $717 million worldwide. Disney is likely banking on a similar 'sleeper hit' scenario for Snow White.

Amidst this, Captain America: Brave New World continues to perform well, accumulating $400.8 million globally after six weekends, with $192.1 million from the domestic market and $208.7 million from international territories.

IGN's review of Snow White awarded it a 7/10, commending the film for its meaningful adaptation of the original story, rather than merely replicating it.