With empty theaters and abysmal ticket sales, social media users have been roasting Snow White for its slow start at the box office.
Netizens even shared images that what seemed to be nearly empty theaters for the weekend opening of the film.
The live-action remake of the iconic 1937 film had a staggeringly high production budget of $270 million and an additional $100 million or so for marketing.
Highlights
- Photos and videos of empty theaters were shared online during the opening weekend of 'Snow White.'
- “Snow Woke went broke,” one said as the movie was roasted online.
- The live-action remake was expected to clear $100 million globally during its opening weekend.
- It came in at $87.3 million instead after the first three days on the big screen.
Snow White was roasted for its opening weekend numbers falling short of expectations
Image credits: Disney Movies
The Rachel Zegler-starring movie was expected to clear $100 million globally its first weekend on the big screen. However, it came in at $87.3 million instead.
Domestically, the movie fared below expectations, with weekend numbers hitting around $43 million.
“It's definitely 45 million dollars more than it should have made,” a social media user commented.
Image credits: kangminjlee
“Snow Woke went broke,” one commenter said, while another quipped, “Quick someone launch a GoFundMe for Disney.”
Netizens have been sharing what appeared to be empty theaters for the show, which was widely criticized for its “woke” changes when compared to the original classic.
“Quick someone launch a GoFundMe for Disney,” a social media user joked
Image credits: Disney
An X user shared a screenshot of the seats available for the “opening Friday night for Disney's Snow White in Imax.”
“Only ONE person bought tickets for tonight,” said the user named Kangmin Lee. “Yeah, this movie's gonna flop.”
The social media user went on to share another image of the show’s ticket booking for a Saturday night show.
“For Saturday night? ZERO,” he wrote.
Image credits: Disney
“I've never seen a major movie from Disney have this little interest opening weekend,” he continued. “This is hilariously abysmal.”
Kangmin felt there was no need to remake Snow White. He claimed Disney may have made more money releasing the original 1937 film in theaters nationwide “than the horrible remake that’s flopped miserably.”
Netizens shared pictures and videos of empty theaters during the weekend shows of Snow White
“So much more love, creativity, passion, dedication, and beauty in this film from 1937 than the remake slop that came out this weekend in 2025,” he wrote. “Stop remaking the classics with race-swaps and overused liberal tropes pls.”
Experts from the industry shared their thoughts on the film's performance last weekend.
Entertainment industry consultant Patrick Frater told BBC that the “multiple controversies” surrounding the film may have “dulled” its appeal.
Image credits: kangminjlee
The controversies surrounding the film included netizens questioning why an actress of Colombian descent played the lead character.
Zegler acknowledged the criticism of her casting and said she “never in a million years” imagined she would be the lead in the film.
The movie has been embroiled in controversy, which included criticism over the casting of Rachel Zegler in the lead role
Image credits: Disney
“You don't normally see Snow Whites who are of Latin descent, even though Snow White is really a big deal in Spanish-speaking countries,” she told Variety in a 2022 interview.
“But you don't particularly see people who look like me or are me playing roles like that. When it was announced, it was a huge thing that was trending on Twitter for days, because all of the people were angry,” she added.
The Disney live-action remake was also criticized for turning the Seven Dwarfs into CGI-created creatures
The Seven Dwarfs being CGI-created magical creatures instead of being characters played by real humans also drew criticism, particularly from Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage.
Although the controversies sparked heated discussions online, one expert said it is unlikely that these controversies made an impression on or even reached the film’s core target audience, which they claimed was families and young girls.
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“The casual movie-going crowd sees a preview for a trailer or they hear about a movie, and they decide whether they want to go see it based on how they feel about it,” Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder and owner of Box Office Theory, told CNN.
Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian said the poor ticket sales for Snow White’s opening weekend could be because of the surplus of remakes.
“There may be a bit of fatigue on these live-action remakes of classic animated films,” he told the outlet.
Experts from the industry said Snow White cannot be written off as a flop based on its opening weekend numbers
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Some believe the ticket sales for the movie will likely pick up and said Snow White cannot yet be written off as a flop. The movie could see a steady growth in the coming weeks.
“It’s a Disney film. It settles in, there’s not going to be a lot of family competition,” said David A. Gross, who runs movie consultancy FranchiseRe.
“This weekend is the locomotive that pulls the train,” he said about the first three days the movie ran on the big screen.
Image credits: Nightma31857632
Disney’s recent live-action remake, Mufasa: The Lion King, was also initially written off when it opened to $35.4 million domestically during its first weekend.
However, the movie went on to achieve the rare cinema success of making seven times its opening number, with a worldwide gross of more than $718 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Snow White had a high production budget of $270 million and an additional $100 million or so for marketing
Image credits: Disney
Another Disney live-action remake, Beauty and the Beast, made $174 million domestically during its opening weekend in 2017.
Meanwhile, The Lion King live-action remake hit $191 million and 2016's Jungle Book hit $103 million during their respective opening weekends.
Amid the widespread criticism, some social media users praised the movie and the lead actress' performance
