Snow White box office flop sparks disaster for Disney’s future live-action movies

Metro(UK) ^ | 4/4/25 | Rebbecca Sayce

[DallasBiff]

Disnet is believed to be reassessing the potential of other live-action movies in the wake of Snow White’s poor performance at the box office.

The film, starring Rachel Zegler as the titular princess and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, failed to replicate the magic of the 1937 original, grossing just $69 million (£53 million) domestically and $145 million (£111 million) worldwide.

This is against a production budget of $270 million (£203 million), leaving Disney significantly in the red.

[KC_Conspirator]

Its really not the live action, its the woke garbage and idiot lead actress insulting the audience. But go ahead Disney ignore it.

[HonkyTonkMan]

🤣

[CIB-173RDABN]

They’ll just change the title to “Gary Poppins” in an attempt to keep critics quiet. :)

—
You laugh but you most likely do not remember the Jerry Lewis take on Cinderella named Cinderfella

“In Cinderfella (1960), Jerry Lewis plays Fella, a kind-hearted but dim-witted young man who lives as a servant to his cruel stepmother and two selfish stepbrothers after his father’s death. Struggling with poverty and mistreatment, Fella dreams of a better life. His fairy godfather, a magical figure, grants him a chance to attend a grand ball hosted by Princess Charming, the kingdom’s royalty. With a glamorous makeover and a time-sensitive spell, Fella wins the princess’s heart through his sincerity and clumsy charm. However, the magic wears off at midnight, forcing him to flee. The princess, determined to find him, uses a lost item—a ring instead of a slipper—to track him down. Through comedic mishaps and heartfelt moments, Fella’s identity is revealed, leading to a happy ending where love and kindness triumph. The film is a gender-swapped parody of Cinderella, packed with Lewis’s slapstick humor and musical numbers.”

Source AI Grok

[MinorityRepublican]

The “word of mouth “ opinions of people who did go see the movie must not have been good.

As a rule, 90% of the movies made by Hollywood = 💩

[MinorityRepublican]

since 2010, that is.

[Qwapisking]

that! along with calling this moronic trollop a “titular” character when she doesn’t even have titulars worthy of mentioning.

[AZJeep]

grossing just $69 million (£53 million)
_________________

Can somebody enlighten me?

How much of those is the Disney share?

Does this includes the theater’s share?
Anybody else on take?
Every movie is “grossing”!
What does this means?

[SaveFerris]

GOOD!?

[irishjuggler]

When I was a kid, “Disney live action” meant goofball comedies like “The Apple Dumpling Gang” and “The Shaggy D.A.”

Enough already with the tiresome remakes. The audience is bored stiff.

[Churchillspirit]

Great news!

[DPMD]

Karma, except that it’s too bad Gal Gadot has to be associated with it.

[DPMD]

Hope Pixar is paying attention.

[catnipman]

“Disney is believed to be reassessing the potential of other live-action movies in the wake of Snow White’s poor performance at the box office.”

live action isn’t the problem: “Mary Poppins” is one of the finest movies every made, and is an absolute classic having stood the test of time ...

the problem is the content ... period ... and if Disney can’t figure that out, then they’re beyond redemption ...

[Political Junkie Too]

I'm guessing that Disney thought they had a hot talent in Zegler after her success in the Disney-owned 20th Century Studios remake of West Side Story, where Zegler played Maria.

Boy, were they wrong...

-PJ

[verum ago]

What does this means?

Hollywood does everything it can to obscure its accounting, for a variety of reasons.

But typically, the studio is getting 45-55% of the gross.

A good rule of thumb is a major motion picture needs to make twice its stated budget to break even (allowing for accounting shenanigans, the theaters' cut, distribution costs, and marketing costs). Significant re-shoots/re-writes, exorbitant CGI, and particularly massive marketing campaigns (like some of the Avengers movies) can push that to 2.5x or even 3x the stated budget as the break even point.

Soooo... currently Snow White is sitting at about $180 million worldwide gross, and is on pace to stall out somewhere around 200 million total, if that. The film's budget has commonly been reported as in the $240-$270 million range. Let's be charitable and take the low end of that, as well as stick with a 2x break even factor, instead of 2.5 or 3 even though this film was known to have costs driven up significantly by redos and the CGI.

2x $240 million means Snow White needs to hit a box office gross of approximately $480 million to break even. But it's on pace for only $200 million. So that's a $280 million dollar loss, with Disney eating about half as the studio. That's an impressive failure.

Of course, if you take the high end of the budget and a 2.5x break even (I think the reshoots and CGI justify this, but since Disney pared back on marketing I can't justify a 3x breakeven in my head) then we're looking at a $675 million break even and a staggering $475 million loss. I'm pretty sure that would make it, even with others adjusted for inflation, the single worst box office loss in the industry's history. Not even Disney can hide and/or absorb a $237.5 million loss on a single project without there being serious repercussions for personnel.

[mjp]

The success and enduring appeal of traditional fairy tales and fables lies in their ability to convey universal truths and archetypal patterns that reflect the divine intentionality and synchronistic nature of reality. Ignoring or drastically changing these core elements in a movie adaptation can undermine the very essence of the story and its ability to connect with audiences on a deeper, meaningful level.

[scrabblehack]

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3856302849/?sortDir=asc

I want to say that Disney’s share is about half...wait for other opinions.

[dfwgator]

Ignoring or drastically changing these core elements in a movie adaptation can undermine the very essence of the story and its ability to connect with audiences on a deeper, meaningful level.

---

It’s intentional, they really don’t care about losing the money, they want to destroy everything good and moral.

[AZJeep]

Thank you very much!
I have always wondered about what is the net profit (loss) of these movies!
Now, I can see!

[Orosius]

Used to be the gross was based on total number of tickets sold. Depending on what kind of deal was negotiated, the distributor would get 80 to 90% of the first week, the balance to the exhibitor, then the percentages would adjust on a weekly basis down to fifty fifty, then reverse in favor of the exhibitor. A boffo opening weekend and a long run thus benefited everyone. Expenses like prints and advertising usually came out of the distributor’s share.