"Box office earnings for 'Snow White' fall short of expectations"
Straight up, Disney's recent spin on the timeless "Snow White" tale was met with a storm of controversies and landed a less-than-stellar $43 million opening weekend at the domestic box office. Many industry experts had their sights set on a hefty $48-$58 million take, but the film failed to live up to expectations.
This lavish retelling, which reportedly cost a cool $270 million to produce, didn't get off to a great start against smaller films like "Black Bag" and "Captain America: Brave New World." However, industry gurus think it might pick up steam as we move into subsequent weeks.
David A. Gross from movie consultancy FranchiseRe put it simply: "It's a Disney film. It settles in, there's not going to be a lot of family competition. This weekend is the locomotive that pulls the train."
Sadly, the remake of Disney's 1937 classic couldn't quite match the success of its controversy-free predecessor, "Cinderella." In 2015, "Cinderella" welcomed a whopping $91.8 million on its opening weekend on a $138.3 million budget—both figures adjusted for inflation. But the princess movie genre can be a bit hit-or-miss, according to Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian, given the shifting interests of box office goers and the saturation of remakes.
No surprise then that "Snow White" made headlines for all the wrong reasons before its premiere. The casting of Rachel Zegler, an American actress of Colombian descent, breathed life into the titular character, but also sparked fury among those clinging to tradition. The Israel-Hamas conflict took aim at Gal Gadot's role as the "Evil Queen," as she had mandatory service in the Israeli army. And let's not forget the reimagining of the Seven Dwarfs as magical creatures, which drew criticism from actors like Peter Dinklage.
But Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango, insists that these controversies likely didn't reach the film's core audience—families and young girls. For casual moviegoers, the final verdict lies in their feelings towards the film, rather than its background drama.
Theater attendance has been sluggish for the past three weeks, causing the box office to dip nearly 7% year-over-year. But movies scheduled for late February and March 2025, like the upcoming "A Minecraft Movie," are expected to revive the box office sooner rather than later.
The box office can be unpredictable, and things could shift in an instant—especially as the summer blockbuster season approaches. Keep your eyes peeled for changes, because we rightly call this industry the story of peaks and valleys.
Hold tight knowing that Warner Bros. Pictures' "A Minecraft Movie" is set to drop on April 4, a family-friendly film expected to leverage its genre's reliability for box office success. According to Dergarabedian, it's just around the bend in this tale of the box office.
Highlighting the recent performances of Disney films, the lavish remake of "Snow White" incurred controversies and recorded a comparatively lower earnings of $43 million in its opening weekend, much less than predicted. In contrast, Disney's previous controversy-free adaptation of "Cinderella" made an impressive $91.8 million in its debut weekend with a budget of $138.3 million, illustrating the unpredictable nature of the box office. Despite the tumultuous start, analysts speculate that "Snow White" may improve as it progresses.
