Snow White earns $16M in domestic opening day box office debut

The latest Disney live-action remake, Snow White, earned $16M domestically on opening day. The film reportedly had a budget of $250 M. This puts quite some pressure on the film's performance. Predictions suggest that the film will make $100M by Monday. While these numbers are not bad, the film has managed to get only 2.4/10 on IMDb and 44% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Snow White, the live-action remake of the original Disney film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), was released on 21st March 2025. It stars Rachel Zegler as Snow White, Andrew Burnap as Jonathan, Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, Martin Klebba as Grumpy, and Ansu Kabia as Hunstman. Marc Webb has directed the film with new music by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. While rumors suggested the film would stray from its inspiration, it still has the original score by Jeff Morrow.

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Does the new Snow White have differences from the original?

Most live-action Disney films, which are inspired by animated originals, have differences from the inspiration. Belle in Beauty and the Beast (2017) did not wear a corset, and Ariel in The Little Mermaid (2023) saved the prince from Ursula, which was the other way around in the original.

Snow White (2025) has let go of some of the original songs and added a few more. The most noticeable difference is that it does not have the character of the Prince. Instead, we see a character called Jonathan, a bandit from the forest.

The new film shows the Evil Queen's death differently. In the original, the Evil Queen gets chased by the dwarves, then gets trapped at the edge of a cliff, and finally gets killed by lightning. Instead, at the end, it shows Snow White regaining control of her father's kingdom. As for the Evil Queen, she asks the magic mirror who the fairest maiden is for one last time. When the mirror responds that it will always be Snow White, the Evil Queen smashes the mirror in anger, crumbles, and gets sucked into it.

Since 2023, many Disney fans have not been in favor of Zegler playing Snow White because of her being half Colombian and half Polish. Netizens expressed that they wanted to see a white actress play the role because they felt the character should resemble her name, 'Snow White.' Many also justified this opinion by suggesting that Disney should create new princesses of different races instead of casting people of color in characters of Caucasian descent.

Regardless of public criticism, Rachel Zegler stars in the new Snow White that is currently running in theaters. It is different from the original in many aspects, but from the box office collection, it does not look like a failure. Fans are eager to see Snow White in a live-action project and will hopefully enjoy the film.