Snow White underwhelms at the box office after controversy follows Disney remake

Heigh ho? More like heave ho.

Disney’s embattled Snow White live action remake has failed to fire at the box office. The film made $US43 million in the US and Canada, below even the conservative projection of $US45m to $US55m.

In international markets, Snow White took $US44.3m for a global total of $US87.3m, under the $US100m target.

With a production budget reportedly at least $US209 million before marketing and distribution costs, that opening weekend will come as a disappointment to the studio higher-ups.

The US opening number is particularly concerning as it was less than the 2019 remake of Dumbo, one of the most underwhelming entries in the franchise, both commercially and critically.

The potential saving grace is Mufasa: The Lion King opened to $US35m in North America in December, and that film slowly and eventually climbed to $US700m globally.

However, Mufasa had not been embroiled in years of controversies before its release as Snow White has.

In 2021, when lead star Rachel Zegler was cast, there was racist backlash against the actor of Colombian heritage playing a character that had, in the original 1937 version, been described as having “skin as white as snow”.

In the finished film, the origin of her name has been retconned to stem from her being born during a snow storm.

In 2022, actor Peter Dinklage took Disney to task for still making a “backward story of seven dwarves living in the cave”. Disney tried to circumvent that by shifting the animated dwarfs into CGI “magical creatures” who are 274 years old.

Zegler has also been criticised for her outspokenness on Trump supporters as well as the Israel-Palestine conflict. She is pro-Palestine while co-star Gal Gadot is Israeli.

The furore surrounding the film led Disney to ban interviewing media from the Los Angeles premiere’s red carpet.

Reviews for the movie has also been lacklustre, sitting at 44 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. While Zegler’s performance has largely been praised, Gadot was dinged for being miscast and wooden. The film’s CGI, production and general visual style have also been criticised.

While Disney had previously remade its classic animated films in live action including the 1996 101 Dalmatians and the 2010 Alice in Wonderland, it began in earnest its onslaught of mining its vault with the 2014 release of Maleficent, a perspective shifting take on Sleeping Beauty.

Since then, Disney has released Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Beauty and the Beast, Christopher Robin, Dumbo, Aladdin, The Lion King, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Lady and the Tramp, Mulan, Cruella, Pinocchio, Peter Pan & Wendy, The Little Mermaid and Mufasa: The Lion King.

Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King each made over $US1 billion.

There is a Lilo & Stitch remake to be released in May and the studio has finished filming on a Moana remake starring Australian actor Catherine Laga’aia in the title role.

There are also remakes of Hercules, Robin Hood, The Aristocats, Bambi and Tangled in various stages of development.