Disney’s staggering nine-figure loss laid bare after its woke Snow White movie with Rachel Zegler flopped spectacularly
Disney’s live-action Snow White was reportedly a flop, and the rebrand cost the company a staggering $170 million in losses.
The fabled saga, led by ‘progressive’ Rachel Zegler, came with a jaw-dropping production price tag of $336.5 million.
However, the film only brought in $87.3 million in its opening weekend in May 2025, for a per capita total of $205.7 million. Forbes.
This live-action princess film currently ranks as the fifth-lowest-grossing film among the 21 live-action remakes produced by The Walt Disney Company.
As well as its financial failure, Classic also faced backlash for changes made to make it more ‘progressive’.
As shooting begins in 2022, Zegler called Prince Charming a “stalker” and noted that the animated classic is “deeply outdated” in its depiction of women in positions of power.
Leading critics were also unimpressed; Peter Dinklage is criticizing the Mickey Mouse company for creating a ‘twist story about seven dwarfs living together in a cave’.
David Hand, son of the original Snow White director who helped Walt Disney win an honorary Oscar, even said at the time that the pair would be ‘turning in their graves’.
The $336.5 million remake of the 1937 classic has been beset by numerous controversies, including Rachel Zegler’s shift in favor of the original film’s ‘sexist’ traditional love plot.
Trailer for Zegler in Snow White gets tons of backlash after introducing computer-generated dwarves
Tensions rose when the film’s “spooky” computer-generated dwarves appeared in the first trailer, making it one of the most disliked videos on YouTube.
The controversy nearly sparked when Zegler took to social media to criticize Israel and the Trump administration.
Thanking his fans for watching the trailer, Zegler added, “Always remember, free Palestine.”
Following this, he publicly called out Trump and MAGA supporters during the 2024 election, writing on social media: ‘May Trump supporters, Trump voters, and Trump himself never know peace. ‘Damn Donald Trump.’
The only Disney live-action remake that earned less than Snow White under normal circumstances was 1994’s Jungle Book.
Other low-renders include Mulan, 102 Dalmatians and Christopher Robin. These films were either affected by the pandemic or actually exceeded it after inflation adjustments.
The outlet revealed these details because the film was shot in the United Kingdom, where local laws give film companies preference and offer refunds for production costs.
To capitalize on this, Disney formed a separate entity called Hidden Heart Productions.
This Disney movie was one of the lowest-profitable live-action remakes
Rachel Zegler attended the film’s premiere in 2025; Criticism intensified after he published anti-Trump and anti-Israel statements on social media.
Under UK rules, the company was forced to reveal its expenses, normally a closely guarded secret in the US, revealing the huge costs behind the film.
Although Snow White received a refund of $64.9 million, reducing expenses to $271.6 million, it was not as successful at the box office.
Forbes’ research showed that with the usual 50-50 split between theaters and studios, Disney received only $102.9 million from Snow White, resulting in a box office loss of $168.7 million after spending $271.6 million on the film.
