'Snow White' Disappoints At Box Office: Will Remake Hurt Disney's Marvel Magic In 2025?

Media giant The Walt Disney Company DIS may have a setback at the box office as the company looks to dominate movie theater revenue thanks to three Marvel films in 2025.

What Happened: Disney film "Snow White" opened with $43 million domestically, a low total for a movie that was listed on a list of the most anticipated films for 2025.

The film ranked first at the international box office and grossed $44.3 million in foreign markets for a global debut of $87.3 million. Total box office revenue fell shy of estimates of $100 million according to a report from Variety.

The live-action remake of the 1937 Disney film has faced controversies throughout filming and production with the film delayed, fans upset about how the seven dwarves were displayed and calls for boycotts of the film due to politically charged comments from co-stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot. Disney did limited public events for the film due to the controversies, which could also explain the lower box office total.

"Snow White" now has the lowest domestic debut for a Disney live-action reimagined film. Aside from "Dumbo," which opened with $45 million domestically in 2019, most live-action reimagined Disney films have opened above $100 million domestically, including "Aladdin," "The Jungle Book," "The Little Mermaid," "The Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast."

The film has a 2.0 rating out of 10 on IMDb, one of the lowest for a big-budget Disney movie ever. The film has 81.6% 1-star ratings and may have been subject to review bombings by people who have not seen the movie due to the controversies.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 43% rating from critics and a 74% rating from moviegoers.

Why It's Important: With only one weekend in the books, Disney will likely be hoping the movie rebounds and has lasting power at the box office to help recoup production costs.

Variety highlights recent Disney film "Mufasa," which opened to $35 million domestically and later climbed to $252 million during its run and a global total of $716 million.

Disney will also hope this doesn't mean the end of success for live-action remakes, with "Lilo & Stitch" hitting theaters on May 23.

The media giant has a big year that could see big box office numbers, with an upcoming film slate that includes:

May 2: "Thunderbolts"
May 23: "Lilo & Stitch"
June 13: "Elio"
July 25: "The Fantastic Four: First Steps"
Nov. 20: "Zootopia 2"
Dec. 19: "Avatar: Fire and Ash"

During the year, Disney will have three Marvel films hit theaters: the upcoming Thunderbolts and The Fantastic Four, following the already-released Captain America: Brave New World.

"Brave New World" has grossed $192 million domestically and $400.8 million worldwide. While the film ranks first for the year domestically, the box office total is on the lighter side for a Marvel title.

With three Marvel movies and several other high-profile films hitting theaters, including Zootopia 2 and a third Avatar film, 2025 could be one of the most anticipated Disney lineups in years. With "Brave New World" and "Snow White" starting off weaker than expected, the remaining lineup could have to do the heavy lifting to hit expectations for the year.

DIS Price Action: Disney stock traded at $99.88 on Monday, compared to a 52-week trading range of $83.91 to $123.74. Disney stock is down 10% year-to-date in 2025.

Read Next: