UPDATE: 2025-06-08 07:58 EST BY BRENNAN KLEIN

Snow White Falls $2.5 Million Short Of Saturday Projections

This article was originally written Saturday AM and has been updated Sunday AM with up-to-date box office projections (in bold), a full chart, and further analysis.

Snow Whiteis easily besting the competition at the box office. The live-action movie remakes Disney’s first-ever animated feature, starring Rachel Zegler in the title role opposite Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. While several of Disney’s live-action remakes are billion-dollar releases (including 2019’sThe Lion KingandAladdin), the 2025 princess movie has struggled to maintain its middling projections. Its release is mired in controversy, especially surrounding the depiction of the character’s dwarf companions and the co-stars' opposing views on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Additionally,Snow Whitereviewshave been middling to negative, earning it a 44% Rotten Tomatoes score.

PerVariety, as of Sunday morning,Snow Whiteis projected to gross a 3-day total of$43 millionat the domestic box office by the end of its opening weekend.This is more than enough for it to claim the No. 1 spotfor the weekend, pulling significantly ahead of fellow new releasesThe Alto KnightsandMagazine Dreams. Its debut is roughly half of what 2023’sThe Little Mermaidmade in its opening weekend ($95.5 million) and just about matches the underwhelming debut of 2019’sDumbo($46 million). Below, see the full Top 5 for the weekend:

1

$43 million

$43 million (weekend 1)

2

$4.4 million

$14.9 million (weekend 2)

3

$4.3 million

$192 million (weekend 6)

4

$3.7 million

$15.7 million (weekend 2)

5

$40 million (weekend 3)

There has been quite a bit of movement elsewhere on the chart, because in addition toSnow Whiteclaiming the throne, the previous weekend’s No. 1 title,Novocaine, has fallen 57%,dropping directly from the top of the chart to No. 4. The previous weekend’s No. 2 title, the Bong Joon Ho sci-fi movieMickey 17, has tumbled down with it, most likely landing at No. 5 in its third weekend, though it is still neck-and-neck with a roughly equal total to theJack Quaid movie.

These precipitous drops have buoyed the previous No. 3 and No. 4 titles, the Steven Soderbergh spy thrillerBlack Bagand the Marvel Cinematic Universe outingCaptain America: Brave New World. By dint of slimmer drops of 42% and 24% in their respective second and sixth weekends,they have each climbed up the chart by one position, filling out the Top 3.

Black Bagstars Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, and Pierce Brosnan.

Although the chart has been shaken up considerably, only one title has dropped out of the Top 5 entirely. That would be the animated featureThe Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, whichdropped from No. 5 to No.7 with an estimated $1.7 million haulthat sees it falling roughly 44%.

Meanwhile,the weekend’s other new releases have debuted outside of the domestic Top 5 entirely. The Robert De Niro mob movieThe Alto Knightshas cratered with a $3 million debut that hardly makes a dent in its reported $45 million budget and sees it debut at No. 6. Meanwhile, the long-delayedMagazine Dreams, which stars Jonathan Majors, had a quiet $700,000 bow in 800 theaters that places it outside the Top 10.

What This Means For Snow White

It Is Comparing Negatively With Other Live-Action Remakes

Movies typically need to earn back two-and-a-half times their budgets, because theaters keep half of ticket sales and advertising costs are not factored into production budgets. Because theSnow Whitebudgetis reportedly between $240 and $270 million, this means thatits break-even point is most likely $600 million or more. It could even be significantly higher, given its massive global marketing campaign. Given the precedent set by Disney’s previous live-action movies, that break-even point may ultimately prove unattainable. Below, see how it compares with every theatrically released Disney live-action remake that isn’t a sequel, prequel, or reimagining (likeMaleficent):

$33.5 million

$136.2 million

$116.1 million

$1.025 billion

$67.9 million

$542.3 million

$103.3 million

$966.5 million

Beauty and the Beast(2017)

$174.7 million

$1.263 billion

$46 million

$353.3 million

$91.5 million

$1.051 billion

$191.8 million

$1.657 billion

$69.96 million

$95.5 million

$569.6 million

TBD

Ultimately, the data does not spell very good news forSnow White, due to its inflated budget. The previousDisney live-action remakesthat have grossed more than $600 million all had opening weekends of $90 million or more, a total thatSnow Whitehas fallen far short of during its domestic debut. Additionally, the diminishing returns ofThe Little Mermaid, which was also adapted from one of Disney’s iconic princess musicals, indicate thatit may not have been able to hit that break-even point even if it had earned twice its current opening weekend projections.

Our Take On The Weekend Box Office

There Are Some Important Signs Of Overall Improvement

Even thoughSnow Whitemay not turn a profit in theaters and is comparing unfavorably to its peers, its opening weekend is still significant in positive ways. For one thing, it is the second highest-grossing debut of the year so far, behindCaptain America: Brave New World($88.8 million). Additionally, its estimated gross isalmost exactly equal to the cumulative domestic total earned by the entire Top 10 over the previous weekend($45.49 million), which was the lowest-grossing weekend of the year. This at least indicates that theaters in general are recovering somewhat after a grim beginning to the month.