The Walt Disney Co.’s controversial live-action film “Snow White” opened in theaters with a modest $43 million at the box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.

With a budget of more than $250 million, “Snow White” had set out to achieve greater ambitions, especially as it returns Disney to its roots. The original 1937 film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” was the company’s first animated feature and financed its Burbank studio.

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The reasons for its hasty start on screens

But this “Snow White” struggled to find a fairy tale ending. The run-up to the release was plagued by controversy over the handling of the CGI-rendered dwarfs and negative reviews over comments made by its star, Rachel Zegler. The PR problems led Disney to delay its release.

The film, directed by Marc Webb, also suffered from poor reviews. Critics were not very impressed with Disney’s latest live-action remake, with reviews as low as 43% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes.

There has been great variation in the box office performance of other Disney live-action remakes, but “Snow White” could mark a new low. Jon Favreau’s photorealistic “The Lion King” (2019) also didn’t have great reviews, but it grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide. “Snow White” had a worse opening than “Dumbo” ($46 million in 2019) and well below the level of “Cinderella” ($67.9 million in 2015).

The hope is that it will continue to add up, like other Disney films

Overseas, “Snow White” added $44.3 million, bringing its global launch to $87.3 million. However, prior to the weekend, “Snow White” was aiming for a worldwide total closer to $100 million, and a few weeks ago, expectations were significantly higher.

However, efforts to modernize “Snow White” quickly failed. In 2022, actor Peter Dinklage criticized the remake plans as “backward”. Disney eventually opted to drop “and the Seven Dwarfs” from the original title and animate the dwarfs. Some right-wing commentators criticized “Snow White” and Zegler’s casting as an overly “conscious” production. Delays and reshoots also increased costs.

However, Disney has recently managed to make several films, from modest beginnings to enviable end results. “Mufasa: The Lion King,” directed by Barry Jenkins, opened with $35.4 million in the US, but eventually surpassed $717 million worldwide

The weekend of disappointments added to what has been a difficult 2025 for Hollywood. The box office is down 6.9% from last year, according to data firm Comscore, and 38.6% from 2019