Snow White Projected for Massive Box Office Drop in Disastrous Second Weekend

After getting off to a rough start at the box office, Snow White‘s struggles have continued in what’s shaping up to be a disastrous second weekend. According to Deadline, the live-action remake is projected to gross just $13.7 million domestically this weekend, which would be a staggering 68% drop from its debut. That decline is steeper than the one Dumbo saw back in 2019 (60.4%). It’s estimated that Snow White will fall to the second spot on the charts, losing the top position to the new Jason Statham vehicle, A Working Man. The action film is expected to earn around $15.6 million in its opening frame.

The rest of the top five this weekend should be rounded out by The Chosen: Last Supper Part 1 ($12 million), Woman in the Yard ($9 million), and Death of a Unicorn ($5.4 million).

Though Snow White won the box office last weekend, it did not have the most impressive debut. It grossed $42.2 million domestically in its first three days, an underwhelming figure given the project’s massive $270 million production budget. While the film did not face significant competition for its target demographic, Snow White was consistently plagued by poor word of mouth, culminating in mixed reviews. There wasn’t enough enthusiasm surrounding the movie to overcome that kind of reception.

[RELATED – Disney’s Snow White Reviews: Grumpy Critics Aren’t Bashful About Sleepy Remake]

There was hope that perhaps Mufasa: The Lion King could have provided a blueprint for Snow White to rebound at the box office. Released last December, Mufasa posted its own weak opening before turning things around and showing off strong legs. The Lion King prequel ended up grossing $719.7 million worldwide. The key thing there, though, is that Mufasa moved up on the charts as its run went on, winning a couple of weekends in January.

It does not appear Snow White will enjoy the same fate as Mufasa. After two weekends (bolstered by the lucrative Christmas frame), Mufasa had earned $113.1 million domestically. If these projections for Snow White hold, it will stand at around $66.3 million in the U.S. after two weeks. Barring an unforeseen turnaround, the only question left might be how much money Disney will lose on the film. Next week sees the arrival of A Minecraft Movie, which is also targeting families. It remains to be seen what kind of word of mouth the video game adaptation generates, but at the very least it’s another option for that demographic. If Snow White couldn’t hold off a Statham action movie with mixed reviews of its own, it’ll likely only continue to fall further down the charts as time goes on.

Disney has undoubtedly had numerous successes with live-action remakes of their classic animated films (see: The Lion King and Aladdin both hitting the $1 billion mark in 2019), but Snow White‘s performance shows that this isn’t a guaranteed formula for success. In the wake of its disappointing run, it’ll be interesting to see how the live-action Lilo & Stitch fares this summer. That film seems to have some more positive buzz, which should help its prospects. Disney has other live-action remakes on the horizon as well (next year’s Moana), so hopefully for the studio Snow White is just an expensive blip on the radar. If other live-action remakes fail to find an audience, Disney might have to rethink this strategy.