Live-Action ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’

[TP2000]

@TP2000

So how much does this dumpster fire have to make to break even?

Great question, but at this point I'm afraid its hard to say. Before Snow White was pulled from its original March '24 release date and sent back for heavy reworking for a year, it had spent $270 Million on just its production budget. Using the basic formula here that it would have received $100 Million for marketing, it would have needed $740 Million to break even if it had been released last March. (Give or take $50 Million based on domestic/overseas ticket sales mix)

But now? The reworks and rewrites to the movie, plus the year long delay, have added to the $270 Million already spent on it back in 2023. We'll have to wait until March, 2025 when we get some solid reporting on its budget and its marketing just prior to its opening to learn the new total required for breakeven. Usually reputable trade media like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter will get that budget info on a big tentpole movie like this.

A few folks here as I skimmed this thread this afternoon have thrown out the $1 Billion breakeven point, and that could be accurate. It needed $740 Million to breakeven a year ago, and its rework and rewrite costs have only ballooned since then.

Suffice it to say, I doubt that Snow White will break even in its theatrical run in the spring of 2025. Just a gut instinct.

Disney Reveals ‘Snow White’ Remake Is Set To Blow Its Budget

Disney has revealed that the cost of making its live action Snow White ballooned to $269.4 million by the end of 2023 putting it on course to blow its budget more than a year before release.

www.forbes.com

 

[Farerb]

It'll barely make $400 million. My advice to Disney is not to spend too much on marketing because that'll just be a waste of money, especially when their main actress is determined to destroy the movie.

 

[Disney Irish]

Great question, but at this point I'm afraid its hard to say. Before Snow White was pulled from its original March '24 release date and sent back for heavy reworking for a year, it had spent $270 Million on just its production budget. Using the basic formula here that it would have received $100 Million for marketing, it would have needed $740 Million to break even if it had been released last March. (Give or take $50 Million based on domestic/overseas ticket sales mix)

But now? The reworks and rewrites to the movie, plus the year long delay, have added to the $270 Million already spent on it back in 2023. We'll have to wait until March, 2025 when we get some solid reporting on its budget and its marketing just prior to its opening to learn the new total required for breakeven. Usually reputable trade media like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter will get that budget info on a big tentpole movie like this.

A few folks here as I skimmed this thread this afternoon have thrown out the $1 Billion breakeven point, and that could be accurate. It needed $740 Million to breakeven a year ago, and its rework and rewrite costs have only ballooned since then.

Suffice it to say, I doubt that Snow White will break even in its theatrical run in the spring of 2025. Just a gut instinct.

Disney Reveals ‘Snow White’ Remake Is Set To Blow Its Budget

Disney has revealed that the cost of making its live action Snow White ballooned to $269.4 million by the end of 2023 putting it on course to blow its budget more than a year before release.

www.forbes.com

$675M is breakeven if you're using the all-agreed upon 2.5x budget formula based on the $270M budget numbers you're using. However we know that isn't the whole story. As reported by Forbes based on the UK filings that are required for all UK based movie productions, the actual budget when you include all reimbursements is actually $214M (when rounded up).

So that puts the actual breakeven at $535M WW.

 

[LittleBuford]

I find it sad that Zegler’s education level is now being wielded in criticism against her. Talk about wildly irrelevant and elitist.

 

[Trauma]

Great question, but at this point I'm afraid its hard to say. Before Snow White was pulled from its original March '24 release date and sent back for heavy reworking for a year, it had spent $270 Million on just its production budget. Using the basic formula here that it would have received $100 Million for marketing, it would have needed $740 Million to break even if it had been released last March. (Give or take $50 Million based on domestic/overseas ticket sales mix)

But now? The reworks and rewrites to the movie, plus the year long delay, have added to the $270 Million already spent on it back in 2023. We'll have to wait until March, 2025 when we get some solid reporting on its budget and its marketing just prior to its opening to learn the new total required for breakeven. Usually reputable trade media like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter will get that budget info on a big tentpole movie like this.

A few folks here as I skimmed this thread this afternoon have thrown out the $1 Billion breakeven point, and that could be accurate. It needed $740 Million to breakeven a year ago, and its rework and rewrite costs have only ballooned since then.

Suffice it to say, I doubt that Snow White will break even in its theatrical run in the spring of 2025. Just a gut instinct.

Disney Reveals ‘Snow White’ Remake Is Set To Blow Its Budget

Disney has revealed that the cost of making its live action Snow White ballooned to $269.4 million by the end of 2023 putting it on course to blow its budget more than a year before release.

www.forbes.com

Oh my god.

Just casually setting 750 Million on fire.

Time to raise the price of whatever they are calling G+ this month.

 

[TP2000]

I find it sad that Zegler’s education level is now being wielded in criticism against her. Talk about wildly irrelevant and elitist.

That was me, who pointed out that she never attended college after graduating from high school in 2019.

If a random 23 year old girl with a high school diploma to her name and limited work experience showed up on my front porch telling me who she thinks I should vote for in federal or local elections, who to root for in foreign wars, or what color to paint my guest bedroom, I wouldn't listen to her. Same with Miss Zegler with her Tweets.

 

[LittleBuford]

That was me, who pointed out that she never attended college after graduating from high school in 2019.

If a random 23 year old girl with a high school diploma to her name and limited work experience showed up on my front porch telling me who she thinks I should vote for in federal or local elections, who to root for in foreign wars, or what color to paint my guest bedroom, I wouldn't listen to her. Same with Miss Zegler.

She didn’t show up on your front porch or lecture you mid-job; she posted on her personal social-media account in her capacity as a private individual. If you choose to pay attention, that’s on you.

 

[Alice a]

Oh jeez. I just heard of this movie a few days ago and clicked into the thread. Hours/days later… I need brain bleach.

I could care less about her comments, signed, an actual real person. Can someone tell me about the prince, because he looks dishy?

 

[LittleBuford]

Oh jeez. I just heard of this movie a few days ago and clicked into the thread. Hours/days later… I need brain bleach.

I could care less about her comments, signed, an actual real person. Can someone tell me about the prince, because he looks dishy?

I don’t think he’s a prince in this version, but I agree he’s very handsome!

 

[TP2000]

$675M is breakeven if you're using the all-agreed upon 2.5x budget formula based on the $270M budget numbers you're using. However we know that isn't the whole story. As reported by Forbes based on the UK filings that are required for all UK based movie productions, the actual budget when you include all reimbursements is actually $214M (when rounded up).

So that puts the actual breakeven at $535M WW.

Like I said, we'll just have to wait until next March to see what, if any, budgetary financials are released by reputable sources for this movie. For instance, Disney went on record saying they spent $140 Million in marketing for Little Mermaid, more than half the production budget which is generally the rule of thumb for marketing budgets.

If we get more info on Disney bailing on this movie (likely) by lowballing its marketing budget, we can factor that in. Also, that Forbes article I linked to explained how this movie was filmed in the UK and thus got a tax rebate of $40+ courtesy of the British taxpayer, so that has to be factored in to whatever the budget final tally is in 2025.

But until then, we are stuck using the last known dollar figure of $270 Million on production as of late 2023. That production budget will likely have grown noticeably by the time Snow White mercifully gets to theaters four months from now.

Oh my god.

Just casually setting 750 Million on fire.

Time to raise the price of whatever they are calling G+ this month.

It's incredible, isn't it? It's that exact wasteful phenomenon that brought me to this little corner of the forums a couple years ago. The Parks are lowering standards and cutting back on offerings all over the place, and yet the Studios are vaporizing hundreds of millions of dollars every year with seemingly little care.

Burbank and all of its Official Good People have had to rethink their strategy, much less the way they communicate and treat their paying customers out in the hinterlands. But I'm not sure they can course correct fast enough.

I wish them luck though, as even Bob Iger now realizes (and admits publicly) the huge mistakes made circa 2018-2023.

 

[Trauma]

Like I said, we'll just have to wait until next March to see what, if any, budgetary financials are released by reputable sources for this movie. For instance, Disney went on record saying they spent $140 Million in marketing for Little Mermaid, more than half the production budget which is generally the rule of thumb for marketing budgets.

If we get more info on Disney bailing on this movie (likely) by lowballing its marketing budget, we can factor that in. Also, that Forbes article I linked to explained how this movie was filmed in the UK and thus got a tax rebate of $40+ courtesy of the British taxpayer, so that has to be factored in to whatever the budget final tally is in 2025.

But until then, we are stuck using the last known dollar figure of $270 Million on production as of late 2023. That production budget will likely have grown noticeably by the time Snow White mercifully gets to theaters four months from now.



It's incredible, isn't it? It's that exact wasteful phenomenon that brought me to this little corner of the forums a couple years ago. The Parks are lowering standards and cutting back on offerings all over the place, and yet the Studios are vaporizing hundreds of millions of dollars every year with seemingly little care.

Burbank and all of its Official Good People have had to rethink their strategy, much less the way they communicate and treat their paying customers out in the hinterlands. But I'm not sure they can course correct fast enough.

I wish them luck though, as even Bob Iger now realizes (and admits publicly) the huge mistakes made circa 2018-2023.

I’m not sure how they course correct at all when this is so deeply embedded in the culture of the company.

If Bob can turn this around he has my respect but nothing he has done indicates he is capable.

 

[BrianLo]

Oh my god.

Just casually setting 750 Million on fire.

Time to raise the price of whatever they are calling G+ this month.

That's how much it would take to break even (inflated, but I don't care to argue), not how much they'd actually lose. If they walked away right now and wrote the movie off completely, the company would lose about 200 million and save the rest on taxes.

As is they are mostly burning marketing money to release it and not really come out ahead from a loss perspective, other than having the movie be usable in the future and not buried/written off.

They clearly feel there is enough potential to try to release it. I'm not super optimistic either.

 

[LittleBuford]

They clearly feel there is enough potential to try to release it. I'm not super optimistic either.

I feel it’s either going to flop as many of us expect or surprise everyone by doing quite well.

 

[TP2000]

I’m not sure how they course correct at all when this is so deeply embedded in the culture of the company.

If Bob can turn this around he has my respect but nothing he has done indicates he is capable.

I can, unfortunately, agree with that.

I think Bob is too much a Hollywood man. And he's too old to change his ways, most likely. But at least publicly, earlier this year he had a notable shift in tone and messaging with his public statements about what his company should be focusing on, and what it should stop doing, to gain back the trust and business of its core customers.

At this point though, to save Disney and set it up for its next 100 years of cultural dominance, you probably need to look beyond the Hollywood community for its next CEO. Someone unencumbered by the stifling and restrictive Hollywood mono-culture, and someone who couldn't care less what the chattering classes in his cubicle ranks are saying at a Silver Lake brunch place every Sunday afternoon. New blood is definitely needed to save Disney at this point.

 

[BrianLo]

I feel it’s either going to flop as many of us expect or surprise everyone by doing quite well.

Agree. At this point they've lost the money; the movie is done. Releasing something inoffensive that winds up as another bounced off piece of media for DTC is better than the choices Zaslav has made at WBD.

It's probably only a mistake at this point to forge ahead if the movie can't break around 200m worldwide. More or less covering what they are spending in theatrical pre-opening marketing. I don't think it will do that bad. But it could surprise us and perform like Mermaid domestically and then stronger internationally.

 

[Farerb]

Wait, British citizens paid for this movie?!? OH MY GOD...

 

[LittleBuford]

Ok, you’re quoting my post saying I could care less about what some actress is saying by… giving me more of what she says?

This is what Burnap himself had to say about his character, whom he likened to Robin Hood:

Jonathan doesn’t take anything seriously including, at some times, the movie itself. I basically get to come in and try to offer a little bit of humor and sarcasm and detachment for Snow White, then say, ‘No, you need to take this seriously.’ It’s also dealing with the question of, how does one make the world a fairer place? Instead of a princess getting saved by a prince, I think it is more of a story of a princess finding herself, finding her voice, finding her strength, and saving all those around her.​

​

It’ll be interesting to see how this dynamic actually plays out. (I’ve linked the article below in case you’re interested.)

I must say that I continue to find the character’s name weirdly anachronistic. It just isn’t a name I associate with medieval Europe (though I realise it’s of much older origin than that). Then again, the film is hardly going for accuracy in other regards!

Andrew Burnap Heads Back Onstage in ‘Camelot’

Andrew Burnap on 'Camelot' at Lincoln Center, winning the Tony award and his new character in 'Snow White.'

wwd.com

 

[Alice a]

This is what Burnap himself had to say about his character, whom he likened to Robin Hood:

Jonathan doesn’t take anything seriously including, at some times, the movie itself. I basically get to come in and try to offer a little bit of humor and sarcasm and detachment for Snow White, then say, ‘No, you need to take this seriously.’ It’s also dealing with the question of, how does one make the world a fairer place? Instead of a princess getting saved by a prince, I think it is more of a story of a princess finding herself, finding her voice, finding her strength, and saving all those around her.​

​

It’ll be interesting to see how this dynamic actually plays out. (I’ve linked the article below in case you’re interested.)

I must say that I continue to find the character’s name weirdly anachronistic. It just isn’t a name I associate with medieval Europe (though I realise it’s of much older origin than that). Then again, the film is hardly going for accuracy in other regards!

Andrew Burnap Heads Back Onstage in ‘Camelot’

Andrew Burnap on 'Camelot' at Lincoln Center, winning the Tony award and his new character in 'Snow White.'

wwd.com

THANK YOU

 

[LittleBuford]

Wait, British citizens paid for this movie?!? OH MY GOD...

No, they didn’t. It’s a scheme designed to boost the British economy by encouraging production companies to shoot in the UK. And it’s proved quite successful.

 

[Disney Irish]

Like I said, we'll just have to wait until next March to see what, if any, budgetary financials are released by reputable sources for this movie. For instance, Disney went on record saying they spent $140 Million in marketing for Little Mermaid, more than half the production budget which is generally the rule of thumb for marketing budgets.

If we get more info on Disney bailing on this movie (likely) by lowballing its marketing budget, we can factor that in. Also, that Forbes article I linked to explained how this movie was filmed in the UK and thus got a tax rebate of $40+ courtesy of the British taxpayer, so that has to be factored in to whatever the budget final tally is in 2025.

But until then, we are stuck using the last known dollar figure of $270 Million on production as of late 2023. That production budget will likely have grown noticeably by the time Snow White mercifully gets to theaters four months from now.

Except we don't have to wait as the financials of the movie, thanks to UK laws, were already released. The only thing that would change is if there were any additional money spent post-production after that financial breakdown, and unless that too was in the UK, wouldn't likely to be known. So really isn't material for our conversations of break-even.

So we have a figure that is more accurate today, which is the $214M as I outlined before. Which again if you take the all-agreed upon 2.5X production budget that accounts for average marketing costs, using the more accurate $214M production budget, we have today with the currently known information a break-even point of $535M WW.

If anything changes from this point forward we can make adjustments. But the $535M WW break-even point is the number for all conversations today until the time we need to make those adjustments.