‘Snow White’ stumbles at box office

Disney’s live-action Snow White movie raked in $43 million at the box office weekend, much lower than its $250 million budget.

But the film is marred by several controversies, like the lead actor Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen, being on opposite sides of the war in Gaza, costly reshoots, and the movie’s treatment of the dwarves.

Disney’s decision to include CGI dwarfs instead of real actors, following actor Peter Dinklage’s criticism, received backlash from the public.

The controversies led to a slew of PR woes before the film’s release, forcing Disney to scale back marketing events.

The movie’s underwhelming debut marks a misstep for Disney’s live-action remake strategy. It had previously delivered blockbuster remake hits like The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast, all of which opened above $100 million, according to the Associated Press.

However, the film performed better than the other movies that debuted alongside it. Over the weekend, Robert De Niro’s mob drama The Alto Knights flopped with $3.2 million, while Robert Pattinson’s Mickey 17 and Jonathan Majors’s Magazine Dreams also disappointed.

Overall, the box office remains sluggish, with revenues down 7% from last year and 39% behind 2019, according to Comscore. Upcoming releases like A Minecraft Movie and Marvel’s Thunderbolts aim to revive theater-going.