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

Snow White, directed by Marc Webb known for The Amazing Spider-Man films, experienced a challenging opening weekend at the box office. According to Comscore, the film earned $43 million domestically, marking it as the second highest-grossing film of 2025 so far, trailing only behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Captain America: Brave New World. Despite topping this week's chart, Snow White's performance falls short of expectations and is below the opening weekend haul of Disney's 2019 live-action Dumbo, which brought in $45 million.

For perspective, other Disney live-action remakes have seen stronger starts: 2019's The Lion King, 2017's Beauty and the Beast, 2016's The Jungle Book, and 2023's The Little Mermaid all surpassed the $100 million mark in their domestic opening weekends.

Internationally, Snow White's opening weekend was also underwhelming, generating $44.3 million. This brings the film's global box office total to $87.3 million, as per Comscore estimates.

Snow White is a live-action adaptation of Disney's 1937 animated classic, featuring Rachel Zegler, a seasoned musical actress, in the titular role, and Gal Gadot, known for her role as Wonder Woman, as the Evil Queen. With a reported production budget exceeding $250 million, the film faces significant challenges in breaking even, especially when factoring in marketing expenses.

However, there is hope for Snow White. Disney's prequel to The Lion King, Mufasa: The Lion King, also started with a modest $35.4 million domestically but eventually grossed over $717 million worldwide. Disney is likely hoping for a similar 'sleeper hit' success with Snow White, despite ongoing concerns about the performance of Captain America: Brave New World, which has now earned $400.8 million globally after six weekends ($192.1 million domestic and $208.7 million international).

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