Disney’s live-action Snow White remake, directed by Marc Webb and starring Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, has underperformed significantly at the box office. Opening to $43 million domestically and $87.3 million globally against a reported $250 million production budget, the film fell short of its projected $50 million domestic debut and $100 million global expectations. This marks a troubling start for Disney, especially given the film’s high production costs and the pressure to recoup its investment.
The movie has also faced critical and audience backlash. It currently holds a 44% score on Rotten Tomatoes, a 50 on Metacritic from critics, and an abysmal 1.5 user score on Metacritic. CinemaScore audiences rated it a B+, the lowest grade for any Disney live-action remake to date. These factors compound the challenges for Snow White in achieving financial success.
Forget comparing this to 2023’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ remake, which grossed more than double this amount on its opening weekend, even 2019’s widely panned live-action ‘Dumbo’ by Tim Burton scored better – by almost every metric, earning an A- CinemaScore, a 50% Rotten Tomatoes rating, higher user and critics scores at Metacritic, and a nearly $3 million dollar better domestic opening, with a whopping $29 million higher global opening. ‘Dumbo’ eventually went on to gross only $353M globally during its run, earning a modest profit. ‘Snow White’ will do well to reach that same sum, which means that at the very least it would only lose $137 million (based on its $250 reported budget).
Professional critics aren’t helping either. The New York Times lambasted the film’s poor storytelling, describing it as “neither good enough to admire nor bad enough to joyfully skewer.” The Guardian went further, accusing the filmmakers of prioritizing profit over artistry, calling it “A film made by people with cartoon dollar signs for eyes and not even the tiniest glimmer of art in their souls.” The Independent noted that even the other talented actors delivered “the dullest performances of their lives.” The controversial decision to use CGI for the seven dwarfs also backfired, with Huffington Post’s reviewer finding them “unnatural” and “unsettling” and less lifelike compared to the other CGI elements, as if they were hastily added to replace the seven diverse “bandits” in the woods. Even good reviews dismissed the new musical numbers as “forgettable and some quite embarrassing,” failing to capture the magic of the original animated classic.
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In a series of unforced errors, the film was plagued by controversies that likely contributed to this poor reception. Rachel Zegler’s casting as a Latina actress in the traditionally Caucasian role of Snow White initially sparked some debates about representation and authenticity, with Zegler mocking critics by adding fuel to the fire by trolling on Twitter with posts insisting she would “not bleach” her skin for the role. Furthermore, Zegler’s polarizing political comments, which steadily streamed from her social media for the last several years, alienated large swaths of the audience, including Trump supporters, pro-Israel moviegoers, and general audiences, unnecessarily creating further resistance to the film. It’s little wonder that she currently doesn’t appear to have any upcoming roles listed at IMDB. She’s toxic.
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With another big loss, Disney’s live-action remake strategy appears to be losing its luster. Unless “Lilo & Stitch” manages to buck the trend and overperform at the box office, “Snow White” could officially mark the beginning of the end for Disney’s reliance on unoriginal remakes. Perhaps a shift away from live-action remakes would be a positive development for the studio, potentially encouraging a return to more innovative and original storytelling. Moving past this pattern of recycling and repurposing their classic animated films could force Disney to reinvigorate their creative output, allowing for fresh ideas and new franchises to captivate audiences, rather than continually mining nostalgia for diminishing returns. At least adapting the occasional theme park rides has managed to produce a few good results.
It would be a tragedy if the only beneficial effect of this disaster was Rachel Zegler being properly kept under tighter control throughout a production. Sure, she’s young and not very clever, but she shouldn’t be the only one who faces consequences here. This film was objectively terrible, and Disney deserves the lion’s share of the ridicule and ire, not some narcissistic “theater kid” with a big mouth who only managed to make it more difficult for Disney to earn money.
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English (US) · 