‘Snow White’ Reportedly Lost Over $170 Million. Would Have Been Worse If It Hadn’t Filmed In The UK

Over a year later, we are finally getting a total on the losses faced by the Rachel Zegler-led live-action Snow White film.  It isn’t good, but it could have been worse.

The live-action ‘Snow White’ film bombed at the box office, only making about $205 million globally.  However, the production cost was $336.5 million after filming, likely due to the CGI costs for those freaky looking dwarfs, and marketing.

What saved the film from being even further in the hole was an almost $65 million tax credit from the U.K. government for filming there. This took losses down to about $272 million.

How did the film lose $170 million then?

Math would tell you that the $272 million cost minus the $205 million box office would mean a loss of $67 million.  No.

Disney doesn’t get to keep all the money from the box office. They split it with theaters. Sometimes, residuals for actors come into play as well.  Meaning, after they shared the money, the losses are likely close to the $170 million Forbes indicated.

People often forget that studios do not get to keep the entire box office take. When they hear a budget is say $100 million and the film makes $101 million, they assume money was made. But it still hasn’t broken even.  Hollywood insiders usually take the film’s budget and multiply it by 2 or 2.5 to get a “break-even” point–due to theatrical cuts, residuals, and marketing costs.

Snow White was a disaster

If there was one film Disney needed to not touch or get 100% right in live-action, it was Snow White.  This was the Walt Disney Company’s legacy film. Walt bet everything on it and won.

From the get-go, there were issues.

• Rachel Zegler kept saying things like the Prince was a stalker. She mocked the original more than once.
• Peter Dinklage said that using dwarfs was wrong and backwards, leading to the loss of roles for dwarf actors in the film.
• The set caught on fire.
• Rachel Zegler got so out of control with her political hot takes that the producer had to fly to her and tell her stop talking.
• Zegler’s comments led to Disney hiring security for her co-star Gal Gadot.
• The CGI dwarfs were creepy and weird

Disney really should have pulled this film back when the set caught fire. They spent way too much trying to salvage the mess that couldn’t be salvaged. Now it cost them $170 million.

Honestly, I expected the number to be higher, and it would have been if they hadn’t filmed overseas.

What do you think? Comment and let us know!