Once upon a time in Hollywood, fairy tales weren’t just stuff one would read to kids at night; they were a ticket to box office success. Disney’s latest live-action Snow White seemed like a dream project. Rachel Zegler played the titular character, and Gal Gadot starred as the Evil Queen.
But some fairy tales fail to achieve their happy ending. The fall of Snow White at the box office exceeded the humiliation suffered by the Evil Queen. Its massive budget added fuel to the fire, creating a huge failure for Disney.
So, what exactly happened? The answer is not that simple because multiple elements played their part in influencing the situation. Let’s take a look at eight major factors that led Snow White to its unfortunate commercial failure.
1. Audience’s viewing habits have changed
The film industry has been rapidly transforming over the past few years. Snow White learned the harsh reality that public theater attendance is on the decline. Cinemas are struggling because of streaming services and on-demand content.
The stats back it up. So far, 2025’s box office is lagging behind the previous years, and even with no big rivals stealing its hype, Snow White got an opening of $43 million domestically and $87.3 million globally (via The Hollywood Reporter).
The pandemic completely changed the way people enjoy entertainment, and most audiences now go to theaters if they feel like experiencing that feeling of cinema, not as the only option to watch a movie.
2. Disney’s live-action remake fatigue is real
Let’s call it like it is- Disney’s remake machine is getting rusty. Despite The Lion King achieving $1.6 billion in 2019 (via Box Office Mojo), the magic has begun to fade away. Snow White appears destined to follow the fate of Pinocchio and Dumbo, the sad club of remakes that nobody asked for.
Nostalgia also seems to be fading away from popular demand. Viewers felt films like Aladdin and The Lion King were a big deal, but Snow White did not get the same focus. The 1937 cartoon is a legend, no doubt, but that doesn’t mean a redo’s automatically a winner.
Disney’s habit of recycling old stories to make money is not working much anymore. Audiences want some fresh content, not just slight variations of stories that they have seen many times.
3. It’s just another Snow White
The critics’ reaction was barely mediocre. With a 42% on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ CinemaScore, Snow White couldn’t get anyone excited.
Moreover, people have had many Snow White adaptations lately. Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman already had their own take on the story. This 2025 version didn’t bring anything fresh to the party. Besides that, Mark Webb’s movie was, anyway, marketed as a take on the 1937 original.
A 74% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes says that people are more interested in watching it later on their personal devices. Post-pandemic, a movie has got to be mind-blowing to drag audiences off their couches. Word of mouth is everything these days, and Snow White failed heavily there.
4. Snow White‘s budget was huge and production took forever
As per The Hollywood Reporter, the movie’s budget went up to around $270 million before they even started the marketing campaign. Disney requires a $600 million worldwide collection to just break even, but that financial goal seems impossible to achieve as of now.
Snow White‘s production also faced way too many delays. Filming kicked off in March 2022 after getting pushed back from 2020. Rachel Zegler signed on four whole years before the movie hit screens. By the time it rolled out, people had seemingly stopped caring.
The movie was supposed to be released in March 2024, but the Hollywood strikes played their part. Each extra shoot, combined with every delayed filming session, caused production expenses to increase while reducing anticipated returns.
5. Snow White‘s representation missed the mark
Representation is a big deal, and there is no doubt about it. However, the lesson taught to Snow White‘s makers and producers was that positive vibes don’t always secure a win-win situation.
Putting Rachel Zegler, a Latina actress, in the lead was a bold move and was meant to be progressive. Most people took this move as a superficial show instead of an honest action, which invited negative comments across social media.
Moreover, Peter Dinklage called out the way dwarfs were shown, and he had a point. It showed how tricky representation can get. The CGI dwarfs, which were meant to dodge old stereotypes, turned into a mockery online.
6. Snow White‘s marketing barely tried
Disney’s hype machine for Snow White was almost silent most of the time. The movie’s marketing stayed hush when most of the other promotions in today’s time follow an in-your-face, loud, and repetitive approach.
Big opportunities like the Grammys and the Super Bowl occurred without a single reference to Snow White. Disney typically generates high-profile marketing campaigns using such events, yet their Snow White promotion lacked visibility.
Theme parks and the merchandise sector appeared exhausted in their promotional efforts. The absence of buzz caused people to raise questions. The absence of advertisements and well-timed cast interviews created the impression that Disney had already surrendered.
7. Gal Gadot’s star power doesn’t translate
Gal Gadot rode high after Wonder Woman but has been sliding into obscurity ever since. She has not been able to capitalize on her initial breakthrough.
Her track record since 2017 represents that. Red Notice, Heart of Stone, and Wonder Woman 1984– none of them were blockbusters, and none helped her to establish herself as a standalone box office draw.
In this case, casting her in the next biggest role in Snow White, where her character would potentially drive the plot forward, didn’t seem like a wise move. Her branding power did not match what Disney needed for success.
8. Snow White‘s controversies potentially took over everything
Snow White got buried under a pile of controversies that hit way before the movie even hit the theaters.
In August 2024, Rachel Zegler first addressed the 120 million trailer views on X by thanking fans and then adding, “And always remember, free Palestine.” The seemingly harmless tweet became the trigger that started many negative reactions. The death threats against Gal Gadot caused Disney to step up her security details as she is an Israeli citizen.
Zegler kept going. On her Instagram, she shared some targeted comments like “F*ck Donald Trump” and “May Trump supporters … never know peace.” Although she apologized for it later after deleting the posts, the backlash got louder.
Snow White‘s producer Marc Platt‘s son, Jonah Platt, talked about Zegler in a now-deleted post on Instagram, calling her out for “narcissism” and risking everyone’s jobs with her politics. He reportedly wrote (via Variety),
Yeah, my dad, the producer of enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, had to leave his family to to fly across the country to reprimand his 20 year old employee for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicity for..This is called adult responsibility and accountability. And her actions clearly hurt the film’s box office.
Peter Dinklage criticized Disney for its ironic progressive claims when the company was telling a story featuring seven dwarf characters living in a cave. Disney attempted to address the issue with CGI, but it proved unsuccessful, and most of the voices weren’t even dwarf actors.
Every tweet, every rant, every hot take turned Snow White into a punching bag. What happens with films is that sometimes their development process becomes more intriguing than the movie itself. But in this case, off-screen happenings eclipsed all developments and the story happening on screen.
Snow White is now running in theaters.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
