It has been an explosive month for Disney, with its live-action remake series seemingly culminating in the release ofSnow White— a new iteration of the original Disney classic — and that movie failing spectacularly. StarringWest Side StoryandThe Hunger Games’Rachel Zegler as the title character andWonder WomanandFast & Furious’Gal Gadot as her evil counterpart,Snow White’s controversiesgarnered a lot of media attention leading up to its release — but it is, at the end of the day, just not a very good movie, and its box office and RT score of 39% reflect this.
As of 2025,Disney has remade most of the classic princess movies into live-action, seeing some genuine hits that contrast the approach ofSnow White— such as 2015’sCinderella, a non-musical which offers a better exploration of the originally flat characters.Disney’s roster of upcoming live-action remakesalso means that this niche of the company isn’t done yet, as these projects were set in motion long beforeSnow Whitecame out. However, this release demands we question how successful live-action remakes will continue to be — and Disney’s next couple of releases seem more promising.
Snow White’s Box Office Hasn’t Lived Up To Expectations
The History Of Snow White Suggests It Should Have Made A Profit
Snow White’s box officereports are dismal, with the worldwide gross (at the time of writing) standing at just under $185 million, against a budget of $209 million (viaBox Office Mojo). When movies generally need to gross two and a half times their budget to break even, this is a monumental loss for Disney. Roughly a month after its wide release, any hopes of it making some kind of financial comeback are virtually non-existent. After falling short of opening weekend projections, it was only downhill from there. And Disney might have reasonably hoped that the movie would do well.
Snow White and the Huntsman(2012)
$396,592,829
48%
$183,018,522
50%
$184,910,998
39%
For starters, there have been multiple live-actionSnow Whitetakes in the 21st century that at least broke even. Most of Disney’s live-action remakes, despite mixed reviews, have seen reasonable to record-breaking runs at the box office.2025’sSnow Whitestarred some big names who have appeared in popular movies in recent years,and the whole thing was the long-awaited remake of what was once Walt Disney’s underdog project that started it all. Yet none of this helped when March 2025 finally came around.
Disney’s Next Live-Action Remakes Are Guaranteed To Be Major Box Office Hits
Summer Blockbusters To Be Lilo & Stitch And Moana Will Probably Do Better
Disney’s next two live-action remakes areLilo & Stitch(scheduled for release June 12, 2025) andMoana(Jun 16, 2025), and both potentially have more going for them, allowing Disney’s live-action remake scheme to bounce back. Both have the family-friendly appeal that is a big draw at the box office these days and sit nicely with summer blockbuster release dates. Both are also outside the realm of the bona fide Disney classics, offering something a bit different from what most of the live-action remakes have been so far.
If boredom with more of the same is the problem, these two movies will probably avoid it.Lilo & Stitchis a fundamentally different story than all the Disney Princess movies, and leans more into the comedy genre— it can be argued thatSnow Whitetook itself too seriously, and that was part of its downfall when the movie banks on fun and nostalgia.Moana, meanwhile, is at least intriguing as the most modern remake yet, with the thrilling return of Dwayne Johnson to play Maui again, now in live-action.
Lilo & Stitch’s early box office projectionsare predicting it will cross the $100 million mark on its opening weekend, succeeding from the start where Snow White failed (viaDeadline). It also seems to have a lower budget thanSnow White, making it easier to turn a profit. We will have to wait a while to see how thelive-actionMoanaturns out, butnoMoanamovie so far has come anywhere close to being a flop.
Upcoming Live-Action Remakes Will Make Snow White’s Box Office Easier For Disney To Forget
Disney Can Handle A Few Flops, & Still Loves Its Live-Action Remakes
Disney has gone through rough patches before and come back more successful than ever, and when a few of the live-action remakes have even crossed the $1 billion mark (2017’sBeauty and the Beast, 2019’sAladdin, and 2019’sThe Lion King) in just the last few years, the race isn’t over yet.It will certainly help Disney ifLilo & Stitchcomes out in the wake ofSnow White— two drastically different movies that are still widely considered to be Disney classics — and is a hit,overshadowing the financial difficulties of March and April.
Especially after Snow White, movie fans are getting increasingly skeptical of how long Disney can go on rapidly producing remakes.
Lilo & Stitchwill have to compete with the live-actionHow to Train Your Dragonshortly after its initial release, but it will at least have movie theaters to itself for a while. Especially afterSnow White, movie fans are getting increasingly skeptical of how long Disney can go on rapidly producing remakes — andLilo & Stitch’s probable popularity means that the company will only eagerly explore new projects, delving into what they can do with a second version of some of their more modern animated titles.
