The much-discussed live-action remake of Snow White is gradually nearing its release date and has recently given a glimpse into its bloated budget. The movie has been in development since 2022 and has experienced a tumultuous production period, resulting in multiple delays and reshoots. This, in turn, has forced Disney to shell out more and more money on the project, significantly raising the making cost in the process.
Disney’s Snow White had a $240 million budget before marketing
Snow White, starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot in the leading roles, reportedly has a production tag of $240 million. This estimated budget excludes the marketing and distribution cost, ultimately making Snow White one of the most expensive adaptions to have ever been sanctioned by Disney.
Variety was the first publication to coin the said figure regarding the movie. Snow White commenced its shooting phase in 2022 in Vancouver and Los Angeles only to undergo more reshoots in 2024.
As a consequence, its ever-growing budget has effectively made Snow White the third-most expensive live-action remake on their roster, alongside last summer’s The Little Mermaid (reported $240 million budget).
2017’s Beauty and the Beast and 2019’s The Lion King rank above the upcoming Snow White, with Disney forking out $255 million and $260 million on the two projects, respectively. The latter’s final budget, after factoring in additional costs such as prints and advertising, turned out to be $621 million (via ComicBook.com). Following a massive $1.65 billion run at the global office, Disney was able to pocket a net profit of $580 million from the entity.
The ongoing trend demands movies of such extravagant scale to recoup at least 2.5 times their budgets in order to break even. As such, Snow White will have the Herculean task to garner $600 million to become a profitable venture.
However, this seems a bit far-fetched at the moment, given that The Little Mermaid could only bring in $569 million last year on a similar budget. Moreover, no Disney live-action remake has breached the $600 million mark on the box office since 2019’s Aladdin and The Lion King.
Snow White will be coming out on the big screens on March 21, 2025.
