Disney’s attempted live-action reboot of Snow White followed its usual remake formula, a minority lead actress, lots of special effects and nostalgia, and the expectation that the audience will show up.
It didn’t.
Even before the actual opening, Disney began cutting back on promotion. The most visible sign of it was billboards and ads for Snow White suddenly being swapped out for other Big Mouse properties even before the movie opened. Disney cut back its tracking to a $50 million opening. It likely won’t even do that.
Those would be great numbers for any other studio, not for Disney which spends big on these tentpoles and expects big returns.
The reviews, both those of critics and the audience, were poor for Snow White harping on some of the same points as in Little Mermaid, a confused attempt to reconcile a traditional princess story with wokeness that doesn’t actually work, overuse of special effects and a lead actress that can’t handle the material.
It didn’t help that Rachel Zegler is not only talentless and unappealing but also managed to go off on a rant about America. As did its star of Captain America: Brave New World.
With Captain Un-America: Brave New World also underperforming, after Mufasa underperformed, Disney continues being able to take the top of the box office, but also continues underperforming while following a declining trend.
That’s not going to end well.
Investors board companies that are going up, not those that are going down. And Disney is trending downward.
