We have been covering Disney’s live-action adaptation of the classic Brothers Grimm tale, Snow White, starring Rachel Zegler, since August 2023. In that year and a half, we published four articles on the subject, as well as an additional one on Zegler’s box office disaster Y2K. Throughout the entire time, one thing remained certain: this new Snow White film would not make a single cent for Walt Disney Studios once it was released.
Just like a homing pigeon finding its nest after flying 1,000 miles, we are finally here. Snow White, starring Rachel Zegler, has started its theatrical release, the opening weekend has concluded, and we have the numbers. And, wouldn’t you know it, the film is a massive financial failure.
Snow White brought in $86.1 million in the first weekend of its release. In the domestic market, that number was just $42.2 million after being played in 4,200 theatres across the US. Thus, it did not even breach the low end of industry projections, which estimated a domestic opening of $45–$55 million for the movie.
This puts it behind other recent live-action remakes by Disney, such as The Little Mermaid from 2023, which opened with $95.5 million in the US, and even Dumbo from 2019 ($45 million). However, it is ahead of Mufasa: The Lion King, which was released in December 2024 and brought in just $35.4 million domestically in its opening weekend. However, surprisingly, Mufasa became a ‘sleeper hit’ and ended up grossing a total of $718 million worldwide during its original theatrical run.
Can Snow White 2025 have a miracle turnaround in the box office like Mufasa?
That is highly unlikely. The audience's reactions to the two recent Disney films are not comparable at all. While there was some online chatter about the lack of need for a ‘live-action’ film, which is almost all CGI animation itself in the case of Mufasa, the IMDB user scores tell a stark difference between the reactions to the two Disney films. Mufasa stands at a respectable 6.6, while Snow White is at an abysmal 2.0 as of the time of writing this.
The fact is that Snow White 2025 managed to alienate most of its potential viewers from the get-go. Unless someone is deep into the woke ideology, casting a Latina actress as a character named Snow White, known for having ‘skin as white as snow’ is a ridiculous concept. To add insult to injury, the star Rachel Zegler has trashed the original 1937 animated Snow White publicly, insinuating that it is sexist. In the wake of the 2024 US presidential election results, she wished ill on President Trump and his voters in an Instagram story.
The controversies just did not want to stop even days before the film’s grand release. Disney cancelled a premiere event in London, United Kingdom, on 12 March after reported tensions between Zegler and her co-star Gal Gadot over the Israeli–Palestine conflict. Zegler is a progressive activist who has voiced her support for Palestine, while Gadot is an Israeli citizen who has completed her mandatory service in the Israeli Defence Forces.
Leading up to the debut showings, most of the social media buzz was about screenshots of empty theatres on the ticket reservation pages of movie theatres and ticketing websites—that is definitely not what you want to see about your major project as a major film studio…
How Much Did Disney Lose on Snow White 2025?
That has no definite answer until the film completes its theatrical run. However, based on the critics’ score and the audience’s reaction online, it is a lot more likely to lose than to pick any steam.
In these circumstances, crossing the $300 million mark globally would be a lucky break for Disney, although not an unrealistic one at that. However, that would still mean a $150 million loss for the studio. The break-even point is estimated to be $600–$650 million, factoring in marketing costs not included in the production budget of $270 million and the cut that movie theatres take from the ticket revenue.
That break-even point is now in the magical land of make-believe for Walt Disney Studios.
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