Disneys Snow White Has a Sleepy Box Office Start

Disney’s latest remake, “Snow White,” arrived in theaters on Thursday night as one of the most snakebit projects in the company’s 102-year history.Almost everything that could have went wrong did, resulting in a torrent of negative prerelease publicity.Did the tumult have an impact on the box office?It certainly didn’t help: Based on projections from analysts, “Snow White” will finish the weekend with a saggy $45 million in ticket sales.

In the 15 years that Disney has been producing live-action remakes of its animated classics, none of the big-budget entries have arrived in theaters to less than $58 million, after adjusting for inflation.(That was “Dumbo” in 2019.)“Snow White” was expected to collect an additional $50 million or so overseas this weekend.

The movie cost at least $350 million to make and market (on par with “Dumbo” after adjusting for inflation).Still, “Snow White” is projected to be the No.1 movie in the United States and Canada over the weekend.

It played in 4,200 theaters and gave the struggling movie theater business its second-biggest opening of the year, behind Disney’s “Captain America: Brave New World,” which had $89 million in first-weekend ticket sales.Among other new releases, the gangster drama “The Alto Knights” (Warner Bros.), which cost roughly $50 million to make, excluding marketing, was on pace to collect a disastrous $3 million from 2,651 theaters.It received weak reviews.“Magazine Dreams” (Briarcliff), a gritty bodybuilder drama starring Jonathan Majors, was expected to take in about $900,000 from 800 theaters, a result that The Hollywood Reporter called “D.O.A.” Mr.

Majors had promoted the film as a comeback vehicle after his career took a hit when he was convicted in 2023 of assaulting and harassing an ex-girlfriend.Reviews were mostly positive.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience whi...