Snow White Box Office Flops: Is Disney In Trouble?

Monday update: Actuals are lower, with Snow White bringing in $42.2M in the U.S. It’s now reported Disney could lose $200 million.

Grosses

• Domestic (49%): $42,206,415
• International (51%): $43,907,066
• Worldwide: $86,113,481

Sunday update: Snow White underperforms with a $43M domestic box office. The worldwide box office is also lower at $87.3M. Prior to the weekend, Snow White was estimated to open to $100M worldwide, with at least $45M in the U.S. The Rotten Tomatoes Score from critics has also dropped to 43%. Fan score is at 74%.

Saturday afternoon update: The Snow White box office is looking like a $45M opening weekend which comes in right at the bottom of the estimates. The CinemaScore has also been revealed and is not good at a “B+.” Rotten Tomatoes also finally released the fan score, and it comes in at 71%, which is also low compared to similar movies. The actuals are yet to be released. The $45M is similar to Dumbo‘s $46M, but as I went over below, that’s not good. The best hope is that Rachel Zegler has good legs, like what happened recently with Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King which opened lower at $35M but had good legs and went on to make $717M.

Friday 6pm EST update: Friday box office is looking like $15.5M, which includes the Thursday number. Estimates are now offering an opening in the mid-$40 million range, depending on Saturday and Sunday, which aligns with the lower end of the estimates.

Friday afternoon update: Before the Friday box office numbers are released, we get the first audience reactions via early PostTrak data. While PostTrak says kids under 12 – with 84% being girls – give Snow White 5 stars, the general audience is only giving the film 3 stars (which fits with the reviews, see below). To add to that, only 39% of the general audience gives Snow White a “definite recommendation.” That means 61% of people that went to see it, really didn’t like it. Even worse, parents are only giving the flick 2½ stars, but a 52% definite recommend.

Previously from Thursday:

The first box office report for Snow White‘s opening weekend is in, with it claimed that the flick brought in $3.5 million in Thursday previews. It’s wondered if all the controversy surrounding Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot will impact fans showing up at theaters this weekend.

The info comes via Deadine who notes numbers don’t come from Disney.

Is $3.5M a good number?

The site compares Snow White‘s Thursday previews to various other movies (see below), making it sound like the film has a shot at being a box office hit.

However, based on what I’ve seen from checking theater ticket sales on Fandango and fan posts on social media, Snow White will be lucky to hit $40–$45 million this weekend.

I’d compare it to The Marvels, which opened with $46 million before falling off the face of the Earth. That said, The Marvels had a heavily front-loaded $6.6 million Thursday, boosted by MCU stans.

Better than Dumbo: So what?

Deadline also notes that Snow White is performing better than Dumbo ($2.6M Thursday), but Dumbo only made $353 million worldwide.

Keep in mind, Snow White underwent major reshoots that reportedly pushed the budget well over $250 million. Dumbo’s budget was around $170 million, and that $353 million haul still wasn’t considered a success.

If Snow White finishes with a $400M worldwide box office, it will still bomb, much like Captain America: Brave New World.

Box office estimates

As the article notes, the box office success really depends on whether families with daughters show up this weekend.

Box office estimates have been declining since tickets first went on sale (once as high as $85M). Right now the Snow White box office is estimated to have a $45M – $55M opening weekend.

Rotten Tomatoes not helping

The Rotten Tomatoes Score certainly isn’t helping Disney. With 147 reviews, the score is “Rotten” at 46%.

The Rotten Tomatoes fan score still isn’t available. Keep in mind, your review only counts if you bought tickets through the Fandango app—so if you didn’t, posting a rating or review is pointless because it won’t be counted. That’s likely why the audience score isn’t showing yet, as Fandango now requires a certain number of verified ticket purchases. It’s pretty clear this is being done to delay the release of the Audience Score as much as possible.

Thursday / opening weekend examples

• Maleficent: Mistress of Evil: $2.3M / $36.9M (reported by Deadline)
• Dumbo $2.6M / $46M (reported by Deadline)
• Kung Fu Panda 4 $3.8M / $57.8M (reported by Deadline)

Some others:

• The Little Mermaid $10.3M / $95.5M
• Wish: $23.4M / $2.3M 
• Mufasa: The Lion King $3.3M / $35.4M

Release info

Disney’s Snow White officially opens on Friday, March 21. Marc Webb directs. The film opens in 4,200 theaters including IMAX. Also starring includes Andrew Burnap.