“Snow White” officially opened this weekend on Friday, March 21 with lower than expected box office numbers.
After earning $3.5 million in previews, which began at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 21, it now looks like the “Snow White” will fall short of the projected revenue of $50 million during its opening weekend.
Weekend updates have been posted to Comicbook.com.
On Friday afternoon:
While PostTrak says kids under 12 – with 84% being girls – give Snow White 5 stars, the general audience is only giving the film 3 stars. To add to that, only 39% of the general audience gives Snow White a “definite recommendation.” That means 61% of people that went to see it, really didn’t like it. Even worse, parents are only giving the flick 2½ stars, but a 52% definite recommend.
Comic Book News
On Friday evening, the box office was reporting a $15.5M estimate, which included sales from the Thursday night previews. This lended to an opening in the mid-$40 million range, coming in at the low end of hopeful estimates.
As of Sunday afternoon, the box office is looking at around a $45M opening weekend.
The CinemaScore has also been revealed and is not good at a “B+.” Rotten Tomatoes also finally released the fan score, and it comes in at 71%, which is also low compared to similar movies. The actuals are yet to be released. The $45M is similar to Dumbo‘s $46M, but as I went over below, that’s not good.
Comic Book News
In a weekend numbers update from Deadline, “Snow White” has earned a total $87.3 million globally as of the morning of March 23. This means both domestic and overseas demand are below the original projected estimates. When compared to some of Disney’s similar live-action remakes, the film is 16% below “Cinderella,” 19% under “Dumbo,” and 33% off of “The Little Mermaid” in offshore markets.
Continuing the comparison between “Snow White” and “Dumbo,” the former did trend better on its Thursday premiere, earning around a million more than “Dumbo’s” $2.6M. The latter ended its run making $353 million, which was not considered successful. “Snow White” also “underwent major reshoots that reportedly pushed the budget well over $250 million,” meaning that even if the film earns $400M in the worldwide box office, it will still be a flop.
The success of “Snow White” at the box office depends on whether families choose to see the film on opening weekend. Spring break is a factor, as 25% of kids are off school.
Despite the live-action film having a high awareness level of 94%, meaning that audiences are aware of the film, it has a 39% interest level to actually go watch it in theaters. Rotten Tomatoes also rated the film with a critical score of 46%, though other Disney live-action films have seen similar low ratings. Rotten Tomatoes has previously ranked relatively successful films like “Maleficent” at 54% and “Aladdin” at 57%.
“Snow White” is featured in 4,200 theaters across the U.S. and offers screenings in PLFs, 4DX, Screen-X, Dolby, and Imax.
The film stars Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. The storyline follows Snow White as she partners with the seven dwarfs to free her kingdom from her cruel stepmother. If you want to read more, we have a plot summary and review of “Snow White” on our website.
“Snow White” has faced controversy since its announcement, not only for being a live-action remake of a classic Disney film. Some took issue with the casting of Rachel Zegler, a Latina actress, as the titular character. As such, Snow White’s name has a new origin. Other controversies include Disney’s new approach to the Seven Dwarfs and the replacement of Prince Charming with a different male lead.
Source: Comicbook.com and Deadline.com
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