In the realm of Disney live-action remakes, few have seemed quite as troubled — if not outright cursed — as “Snow White.” Directed by Marc Webb, of “The Amazing Spider-Man” fame, with Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story”) and Gal Gadot (“Wonder Woman”) leading the cast, it’s a star-driven affair that seems right in line with what the studio has done with these remakes over the past decade or so, dating back to when Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” became an unexpected $1 billion blockbuster. Unfortunately, this movie has been hit with more than a few setbacks — setbacks that have, quite literally, come at a cost, it seems.
As revealed in a new report from Forbes, Disney spent a whopping $269.4 million on “Snow White,” which was largely the result of extensive reshoots and various delays. This was disclosed because the studio is taking advantage of tax credits for qualifying films offered by the U.K., which means the Mouse House was forced to report all spending for a given production. Fortunately, the report also notes that Disney received a $55.5 million reimbursement thanks to those tax credits, bringing the studio’s net spending on the film down to $213.9 million.
A few things. One, the movie still isn’t set to hit theaters until March of next year, so there may yet be some post-production costs incurred between now and then. Two, this amount does not account for marketing, which is likely going to amount to $100 million or more for a tentpole of this size. It’s true that Disney made more than $7 billion at the box office from such remakes between 2010 and 2019, but those returns have slowed in recent years. In the pandemic era, these are not the surefire slam dunks they once were.
“Snow White,” as it were, is a live-action musical reimagining of the classic 1937 film. Zegler leads the way as the titular character, with Gadot playing the Evil Queen. The dwarfs (Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy) will be there too.
Snow White is the latest victim of budgets run amok
As mentioned, “Snow White” has had its fair share of roadblocks along the way. It was originally supposed to film in 2020 before the pandemic shut that down. Production originally wrapped in summer 2022, with the film sitting for quite some time before major reshoots were ordered by Disney. There were also rumors that “Snow White” had been canceled altogether at one point. Those rumors proved untrue, but none of this bodes well for the film because, as expensive as it is, it’s going to need to make a fortune just to break even.
Given the reported budget and a presumed major marketing spend, even if we’re being generous, that means Disney’s investment is in the $300 million range. Because theaters keep around half of the money from ticket sales, that means we’re talking about a movie that now needs to make around $600 million worldwide (give or take) just to break even in theaters. That’s no easy task.
It’s just the latest example of franchise budgets spiraling out of control, which is a problem that has been brewing for years now. It’s not nearly as bad as “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which had a budget in the $300 million range, but it’s bad enough. Sure, movies like “Aladdin” made more than $1 billion, but what if this is more like Tim Burton’s “Dumbo” and makes scarcely more than $350 million? That would be a trainwreck.
Who knows? Maybe this will work out fine. Maybe this will be one of 2025’s biggest hits and pull in $700 million or more globally. Even if that does happen, it shouldn’t excuse such runaway spending. Studios really need to get a hold of these things before they spiral out of control. It’s going to happen from time to time, it just needs to stop happening so frequently. A $200 million price tag simply cannot become the accepted norm for every big movie.
“Snow White” is set to hit theaters on March 21, 2025.
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