Live-Action ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’

[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.

 

[Chi84]

Disney (and others) at the Box Office - Current State of Affairs

I figured we could create a thread to discuss all things Disney, and their box office performance, instead of littering the various threads. Disney has had success in the last couple of years (No Way Home, Dr. Strange, Avatar, etc.), and pretty big box office blunders (Lightyear, Strange...

forums.wdwmagic.com

No littering!

 

[Disney Irish]

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

The UK, just like the US, provides tax rebates to studios to entice them to film movies there as a way to help local economies. Each state in the US does the exact same thing as does Canada.

So no British citizens did not pay for the movie. All that was done was a tax rebate was provided that allowed Disney to offset the cost of production by said rebate.

 

[Disney Irish]

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.

I think it'll break $200M WW with relative ease, despite the "controversy". As long as its a half way decent movie it'll bring in people especially outside the US who don't care about any of the comments from an actress, basically perform similar as you said to Mermaid.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I think it'll break $200M WW with relative ease, despite the "controversy". As long as its a half way decent movie it'll bring in people especially outside the US who don't care about any of the comments from an actress, basically perform similar as you said to Mermaid.

It’s all going to come down to reviews and word of mouth, I was surprised that TLM made over $500 million worldwide so if the reviews are even decent I wouldn’t be surprised if this does similar.

Whether it’ll break even depends on how much they ultimately spent, $500 million seems to be the low end break even point, a billion seems to be the high end break even point, personally I think anything less than $100 million in losses would be considered a success given the controversies, delays, etc.

Disney made a bundle off IO2 and Deadpool so they can easily absorb $100 million, if it loses $300 million plus it’s going to offset a huge chunk of the years box office though.

 

[Disney Irish]

It’s all going to come down to reviews and word of mouth, I was surprised that TLM made over $500 million worldwide so if the reviews are even decent I wouldn’t be surprised if this does similar.

Whether it’ll break even depends on how much they ultimately spent, $500 million seems to be the low end break even point, a billion seems to be the high end break even point, personally I think anything less than $100 million in losses would be considered a success given the controversies, delays, etc.

Disney made a bundle off IO2 and Deadpool so they can easily absorb $100 million, if it loses $300 million plus it’s going to offset a huge chunk of the years box office though.

Disney has at least 12 theatrical releases in 2025, this is but one. So I think they will be fine even if this one ends up losing money. They made it through 2023, which seems so long ago now, they can make it through this movies release too no matter the outcome.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Disney has at least 12 theatrical releases in 2025, this is but one. So I think they will be fine even if this one ends up losing money. They made it through 2023, which seems so long ago now, they can make it through this movies release too no matter the outcome.

Next year will be interesting, half the movies look like sure things, the other half look like they’ll struggle to break even. They look to have a few billion dollar movies though that should cover any losses.

 

[Disney Irish]

Next year will be interesting, half the movies look like sure things, the other half look like they’ll struggle to break even. They look to have a few billion dollar movies though that should cover any losses.

Agreed, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. But much like 2024 I think 2025 will be a positive year for Disney theatrically no matter what happens with this movie.

 

[Chi84]

There’s a reason the troops have dissipated. Disney realized they took it too far with Strange World and Lightyear as the majority were not on board and the movies bombed. As Disney started to focus on entertainment/ stories that appeal to the average American family and stay away from themes cooked up by young childless Progressives from Silverlake, CA their fortunes have turned around and as you say the troops have begun to dissipate. You still have people of course that have written off Disney and are not back on board and may never be. But that’s a much smaller group.

You trying to stir up all that “majority” stuff again? It’s exhausting.

Why not just enjoy Disney as it is? It’s not changing.

 

[Chi84]

lt already has

It’s kind of funny because Disney has always been progressive and inclusive in nature, but as in all forms of entertainment there are hits and misses.

I don’t understand the need to feel validated by claiming to represent some type of majority.

Can’t people just enjoy the films they like and not see the ones they don’t? There’s enough variety for a wide range of viewers.

We just returned from WDW and there is something for everyone in the parks. The movies should be the same.

 

[mickEblu]

It’s kind of funny because Disney has always been progressive and inclusive in nature, but as in all forms of entertainment there are hits and misses.

I don’t understand the need to feel validated by claiming to represent some type of majority.

Can’t people just enjoy the films they like and not see the ones they don’t? There’s enough variety for a wide range of viewers.

We just returned from WDW and there is something for everyone in the parks. The movies should be the same.

I’m just explaining what happened and reality. Disney doesn’t want to keep losing money on movies. You might see some of those themes on Disney + shows but they won’t be nearly as bold and you probably won’t see it in a Disney animated feature film anytime soon.

 

[Chi84]

Lol. All these predate Strange World and Lightyear or were much less aggressive. Le Fou was funny and it wasn’t overt. I didn’t have any issues with it. Those other two characters are extras /side characters and their back stories are put in there for adults. Kids have no idea what’s going on with those. Let me know the next time you see any of the following happening with main characters - two teenage boys crushing or two women kissing in Disney animated feature film anytime soon and I’ll eat my words.

I hope you never turn on your television.

 

[Chi84]

I’m just explaining what happened and reality. Disney doesn’t want to keep losing money on movies. You might see some of those themes on Disney + shows but they won’t be nearly as bold and you probably won’t see it in a Disney animated feature film anytime soon.

Are you really qualified to explain what happened or reality, though?

I mean, you can speak for yourself but it’s just your opinion. It doesn’t hold any more weight just because you say so or claim the support of “the majority.”

There is so much Disney content to enjoy. But not everything has to be for everyone. Disney understands that and always has.

 

[mickEblu]

You may want to actually watch Agatha All Along before making such assumptions.

That’s a Disney + show and PG 13 if I’m not mistaken? I said you wouldn’t be seeing it in PG Disney animated film anytime soon. I haven’t seen Agatha All Along but apparently it’s the “Gayest” Marvel show ever or something according to some interviewer that was interviewing what’s her name from White Lotus? How are the ratings?