Snow White has fallen severely short in its global debut, though it has still landed on a major box office chart. The new Disney live-action remake stars Rachel Zegler in the title role opposite Ansu Kabia as the Huntsman, Patrick Page as the Magic Mirror, and Gal Godot as the Evil Queen. Severe Snow White backlash has mired the new release in a wide variety of controversies, ranging from the movie’s depiction of dwarfism to Gadot and Zegler’s opposing views on the Israel-Hamas war.
Per Variety, as of Sunday morning, the global opening weekend for Snow White is projected to hit a total of $87.3 million, comprising $43 million from domestic theaters and $44.3 million from international markets. This falls $12.7 million short of its original $100 million debut projections. However, in just three days, the Disney movie has become the sixth highest-grossing movie of 2025, behind Mickey 17, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Dog Man, Captain America: Brave New World, and Ne Zha 2.
What This Means For Snow White
Its Theatrical Release Isn’t Doomed Just Yet
Although the new movie has had one of the worst debuts for a Disney live-action remake, it is possible that it could follow in the foosteps of 2024’s Mufasa: The Lion King, which had a disappointing domestic debut of $35.4 million but eventually legged out to a worldwide total of $717.5 million. The stakes are higher here, however, as the Snow White budget reportedly ballooned to somewhere between $240 and $270 million, which likely places its break-even point somewhere around $650 million or more.
Because theaters keep half of ticket sales and publicity costs are not factored into production budgets, movies typically need to earn two and a half times their budgets in theaters in order to turn a profit.
If the Rachel Zegler movie follows the same trajectory as Mufasa, it could eventually hit a total of $897.9 million by the end of its theatrical run, which would most likely be enough for it to be considered a success. While its potential could be hampered by middling to negative Snow White reviews that have earned it a Rotten Tomatoes score of 44%, the release may end up being review-proof. It didn’t affect Mufasa, after all, when it earned a Rotten Tomatoes splat with a score of 57%.
Our Take On The Snow White Box Office
It Came Out At The Right Time
While the Snow White controversies could ultimately place it on a different trajectory from Mufasa, the movie will most likely benefit from a good placement on the 2025 movie schedule. It comes at the end of a slow March, so there are no holdover titles that pose major competition. Additionally, there is only one major family blockbuster tentpole – the video game feature A Minecraft Movie – set to debut in all of April, so the path is relatively clear for the princess movie to continue to build its audience worldwide through the May 2 release of Marvel’s Thunderbolts*.
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Source: Variety
Snow White
5/10
- Release Date
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March 21, 2025
- Runtime
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109 Minutes
- Director
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Marc Webb
- Writers
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Erin Cressida Wilson, Wilhelm Grimm
- Producers
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Callum McDougall, Marc Platt
