Disney's Snow White Remake Struggles to Break Even After Slow Box Office Start

Snow White, the latest live-action Disney remake directed by Marc Webb, known for The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2, faced a challenging debut at the box office. The film, starring Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, pulled in a domestic total of $43 million over its opening weekend, according to Comscore. This figure marks the second highest domestic opening of 2025 so far, only surpassed by the MCU's Captain America: Brave New World, and was enough to claim the top spot on this week's box office chart. However, it fell short of the $45 million opening achieved by the live-action Dumbo in 2019 and did not meet pre-release estimates.

For perspective, other Disney remakes like 2019's The Lion King, 2017's Beauty and the Beast, 2016's The Jungle Book, and 2023's The Little Mermaid all enjoyed opening weekends that exceeded $100 million domestically.

Internationally, Snow White also had a modest start, earning $44.3 million, which brings its global opening weekend total to $87.3 million. With a reported production budget exceeding $250 million, not including marketing expenses, Snow White faces a steep challenge to reach profitability.

Despite the slow start, there's potential for Snow White to follow in the footsteps of Mufasa: The Lion King, another Disney prequel that opened to a domestic $35.4 million but ultimately grossed over $717 million worldwide. Disney is likely hoping for a similar 'sleeper hit' success story for Snow White, especially amid ongoing discussions about the performance of Captain America: Brave New World, which has now earned $400.8 million globally after six weekends.

IGN's review of Snow White awarded it a 7/10, praising the film for being a meaningful adaptation of the original 1937 animated classic rather than a mere imitation.