Sophia Michaels
Among upcoming Disney movies, the House of Mouse has been hard at work in recent years on the live-action Snow White starring Rachel Zegler. The movie was filmed in 2022 and was initially expected to come out in the spring on the 2024 movie schedule. However, Disney announced its decision to push its release back to one year later. The shakeup has raised concerns regarding whether the movie will be a future success or a Disney flop.
Per a new report about Snow White from Forbes, which takes findings regarding the UK production’s budget under consideration, the Disney remake must gross at least $340 million to break even at the box office. That leaves the question: Will Disney’s Snow White actually make back how much the studio spent on the live-action fantasy film?
What Is Snow White’s Reported Budget?
According to financial statements acquired by Forbes, Walt Disney Studios spent $209 million on the production of Snow White. The movie was initially going to kick off production in March 2020 in Vancouver, Canada, but the COVID-19 pandemic led to the film being paused for two years. We’d imagine those major delays factor into the production costs.
The findings also indicate that Disney earned $41.1 million in reimbursement cash for shooting the film in the United Kingdom, which the government provides per their Film Tax Relief initiative. That brings Snow White’s production costs to $168.2 million. When it comes to box office success, typically a movie is said to break even if it makes double its production budget. And the $168.2 million doesn’t seem to count post-production and marketing costs. With all those numbers in mind, the outlet suggested Snow White needs to make $336.4 million in order to balance the books.
What’s Working Against The Live-Action Snow White’s Success?
The Snow White movie has faced numerous instances of backlash ever since it was announced. For one, the racist backlash that Halle Bailey’s The Little Mermaid faced has now followed Rachel Zegler for being cast as the titular Snow White. In addition, the movie has been criticized for replacing its dwarf characters as “magical creatures” and the Snow White cast featuring just one actor with dwarfism, Martin Klebba. Peter Dinklage also bluntly called out Disney for remaking a “backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together.”
It doesn’t stop there. Zegler also took flack for sharing that her Snow White wouldn’t be “saved by the prince.” The son of the original director of 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves also said he felt Walt Disney and his father “would be turning in their graves” at the changes the movie is making. There have also been greatly exaggerated rumors that Zegler was fired from the movie after filming it.
Will Snow White Be A Box Office Success Or Flop?
Bad press aside, Disney does have a relatively great track record when it comes to the box office success of these live-action adaptations movies. Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Aladdin each made over $1 billion at the box office when they were released. However, 2023’s release of The Little Mermaid shows these movies are trending down for the company. The early summer movie made $569 million worldwide, underwhelming from prior releases of its kind.
Disney’s live-action Dumbo, which is a remake from the same era as the original Snow White, made just $353 million worldwide when it was released in the springtime, which is also when Snow White will come out. Considering there’s over a year to go before Snow White hits theaters on March 21, 2025, Disney has the gift of time to attempt to turn things around, but right now there’s no guarantee that it’s going to break even and become the studio’s next hit given its budget and current trajectory.
