Ginger Adams Otis

"Snow White," the live-action remake of Disney's classic film that managed to hit nearly every cultural land mine on its path to the box office, grossed a less-than-expected $43 million domestically in its opening weekend.

The film, starring "West Side Story" actress Rachel Zegler as Snow White and "Wonder Woman" star Gal Gadot as her vengeful stepmother, was projected to hit around $50 million in domestic ticket sales on its opening weekend.

Disney spent nearly $300 million to remake the film, a project that highlights the challenges the company faces when refreshing classic films in the modern age. From online criticism of its casting choices to backlash over the use of CGI dwarfs, a fire on set and comments by its stars about the war in Gaza, the film traveled a rough road to its debut.

Still, "Snow White" offered "some much-needed momentum" to the movie business, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. He said the film's performance "puts a somewhat positive spin on what has been a rather slow past 30 days at the multiplex."

"Snow White" helped the domestic weekend box office gross $77 million, up from the $50 million range in each of the three prior weekends, according to Comscore. The domestic box office so far this year is down nearly 7% from the same period the prior year, at $1.34 billion, according to Comscore.

That haul from 20 wide releases -- movies that played in more than 2,000 theaters -- is down 39% from the same stretch in 2019, when 24 films opened. The pandemic the following year shut down theaters and changed Americans' moviegoing habits.

"Snow White" grossed another roughly $44 million internationally since Friday.

The animated version of "Snow White" was first released in 1937 and became a smash hit and much-needed financial win for the company at the time. "Snow White" is one of two live-action remakes Disney plans to release this year; "Lilo & Stitch" is scheduled to debut this summer.

Disney's "Captain America: Brave New World" had the strongest domestic opening of the year, grossing $88.8 million the weekend it opened in February. It has made $192 million domestically so far.

Dergarabedian said "A Minecraft Movie," an adaptation of the popular game that is scheduled to open in early April, is likely to be a big draw.

Write to Ginger Adams Otis at Ginger.AdamsOtis@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 23, 2025 14:45 ET (18:45 GMT)

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