'Snow White' opens with a sleepy $43 million at box office
[March 24, 2025]
By JAKE COYLE
NEW YORK (AP) — The Walt Disney Co.’s live-action, controversy-bedeviled
“Snow White” opened in theaters with a sleepy $43 million in ticket
sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
With a budget above $250 million, “Snow White” had set out with higher
ambitions, particularly since it returns Disney to its very origins. The
1937 original “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was the company’s first
animated feature, and paid for its Burbank studio lot.
But this “Snow White” struggled to find anything like a fairy tale
ending. The runup to release was plagued by controversies over the
film’s handling of the dwarfs, who are rendered in CGI, and backlashes
over comments by its star, Rachel Zegler. The PR headaches prompted
Disney to pull back on its premiere.
Also working against the film, directed by Marc Webb: poor reviews.
Critics were largely not impressed with Disney’s latest live-action
remake, with reviews coming in just 43% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes.
There’s been a wide variance between the box-office performance of other
“live-action” Disney remakes, but “Snow White” might mark a new nadir.
Jon Favreau’s photorealistic “The Lion King” (2019) didn’t have great
reviews, either, but grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide. “Snow
White” opened worse than “Dumbo” (a $46 million opening in 2019) and
well shy of “Cinderella” territory ($67.9 million in 2015).
Overseas, “Snow White” added $44.3 million for a global launch of $87.3
million. But going into the weekend, “Snow White” had been eyeing a
worldwide total closer to $100 million – and a few weeks back,
expectations were significantly higher.
The result will surely add to questions over Disney’s long-term strategy
of mining its vault for live-action remakes. In the pipeline are
upcoming new versions of “Moana" and “Tangled." A live-action “Lilo &
Stitch” launches in May.
Efforts to modernize “Snow White," though, quickly ran afoul. In 2022,
actor Peter Dinklage criticized the remake plans as “backward.” Disney
ultimately opted to drop “and the Seven Dwarfs” from the original's
title, and animate the dwarfs. Some right-wing commentators targeted
“Snow White” and Zegler's casting as an overly “woke” production. Delays
and reshoots also ran up costs.
Disney, though, has recently steered a handful of films from modest
starts to enviable final hauls. The Barry Jenkins-directed “Mufasa: The
Lion King” opened with $35.4 million domestically, but ultimately
surpassed $717 million worldwide. “Snow White” will face little direct
competition in the coming weeks. Audiences gave it a “B+” CinemaScore.
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This image released by Disney shows Rachel Zegler in a scene from
"Snow White." (Disney via AP)
 Warner Bros.’ “Alto Knights,” a
period gangster film starring Robert De Niro in both lead roles, was
a total misfire. The Barry Levinson-directed film, which cost about
$45 million to make, opened with just $3.2 million from 2,651
theaters. The flop of “Alto Knights” followed another misfire for
Warner Bros. with Bong Joon Ho’s big-budget sci-fi “Mickey 17.” In
three weeks, it’s tallied $40.2 million domestically against a $118
million budget.
“Magazine Dreams,” starring Jonathan Majors as a disturbed aspiring
bodybuilder, opened with $700,000 for Briarcliff Entertainment in
815 locations. The film was dropped by Searchlight Pictures after
Majors was convicted of two misdemeanor counts of assault and
harassment against Grace Jabbari, his ex-girlfriend. Majors avoided
jail time but was given a year of probation.
The disappointment-filled weekend added to a rough 2025 so far for
Hollywood. The box office is down 6.9% from last year, according to
data firm Comscore, and 38.6% from 2019.
Top 10 movies by domestic box office
With final domestic figures releasing Monday, this list factors in
the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and
Canadian theaters, according to Comscore.
1. “Snow White,” $43 million.
2. “Black Bag," $4.4 million
3. “Captain America: Brave New World,” $4.1 million.
4. “Mickey 17," $3.9 million.
5. “Novocaine,” $3.8 million.
6. “The Alto Knights,” $3.2 million.
7. “The Day the Earth Blew Up,” $1.8 million.
8. “The Monkey,” $1.5 million.
9. “Dog Man,” $1.5 million.
10. “The Last Supper,” $1.3 million.
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