All Eyes Are On Snow White’s Opening Weekend

By Jordan Taylor

Disney’s Snow White remake has been anything but smooth sailing. From Rachel Zegler’s public disdain and criticism for the original movie, to the extremely public political disagreements between Gal Gadot and Rachel Zegler. It got to such an extent, where the two of them are not doing ay press together. 

 

That speaks volumes, as movies, especially big budget movies always send out their main stars to do press together. Stars of a movie doing press together essentially are selling and promoting a movie to audiences, through doing interviews for it. It sets the tone for what audiences have to look forward to. The controversies don’t end there either for this movie. The decision to use CGI dwarfs instead of casting actors in the Dwarfism community was met with a massive backlash. The backlash has been so intense, that Disney cancelled and scaled back multiple premieres around the world. Disney didn’t even invite the press to their premiere, which is extremely unusual. The movie also has a budget of $270 million. This is due to the film being almost completely reshot, due to the backlash against the movie. That means the movie needs to make double just to break even. Movie studios especially big studios, almost always replicate the budget of the movie. The movie is expected to open well under projections with a $50 million debut for it’s entire opening weekend. 

The film’s hopes of over performing have also become even less likely following the reveal of the Rotten Tomatoes score. As of now the movie holds a 46% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences are very easily influenced by critics’ reviews, especially  Rotten Tomatoes scores. This movie debuting with one of the worst Rotten Tomatoes scores of any of the live action Disney remakes may have sealed it’s doom.The Rotten Tomatoes score was one of the last hopes of turning this around for Disney. 

The backlash and hate for Disney’s Snow White remake is a shame, as this should have been a slam dunk box office hit for Disney. After all it is the first Disney animated movie ever made. Not to mention the first feature length animated movie ever made. The 1937 original movie holds a significant place in pop culture. Disney has had massive success with remaking it’s animated classics in live action. Disney’s remake of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, and Alice In Wonderland all crossed a billion at the box office. Even the 2026 remake of The Jungle Book grossed over 900 million. This movie will be lucky if it finishes its entire run at the box office with $300 million.