Snow White had a mediocre opening day at the US box office amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the film, while Robert De Niro’s mob drama The Alto Knights has completely tanked.
The Disney live-action remake, which stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, took $16m across Friday and preview screenings from 4,200 venues across the US.
Variety reports that this figure puts the film on track to land a projected opening weekend north of $45m.
Snow White has a steep climb ahead – it carries a production cost of more than $250m, meaning it will have to have a successful theatrical run to reach profitability.
By comparison, 2023’s The Little Mermaid, which had a similar budget of $240m, made $95m on its opening weekend, more than double what Snow White is projected to make.
However, grossing $45m overall this weekend would make the film the second biggest debut of the year behind Disney and Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World, which grossed about $88.5m in domestic sales between Friday 14 February to Sunday 16 on its opening weekend.
Rachel Zegler in Disney’s ‘Snow White’ (Disney)
Robert De Niro’s The Alto Knights also opened this weekend but bombed on its opening day, with sales of $1.17m across Friday and previews, playing in 2,651 cinemas in the US.
The film, which sees De Niro playing two identical gang leaders, has already been projected to be one of the year’s biggest flops – with The Independent’s film critic Clarisse Loughrey giving it two stars, calling it “passionless”.
Reviews for Snow White have been mixed, while the controversy surrounding casting backlash and politics forced Disney to scale back press access to its premiere.
Zegler, who is of Colombian descent, has faced backlash from right-wing voices who were unhappy about the character being portrayed by a person of colour.
Robert De Niro in ‘The Alto Knights’ (© 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
The West Side Story actor seemed to further provoke conservative fans by arguing the plot needed to be updated as, in the original 1937 film, Prince Charming “literally stalks her”.
“It’s no longer 1937,” Zegler said. “She’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love. She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be.”
The film has faced further controversy over Disney’s inclusion of the seven CGI dwarfs in the remake, with Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage, who has dwarfism, calling it “f***ing backwards”.
Disney responded to Dinklage’s comments, saying: “To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community.”
