Why Disney’s ‘Snow White’ Remake Must Gross $340 Million

Disney’s upcoming live action remake of its classic cartoon Snow White will have to gross at least $336.4 million to break even according to analysis of recently-released filings.

The film is not due to debut until March next year, but it has already been blasted by critics over the changes it makes to the 1937 classic which won Walt Disney
DIS
an honorary Oscar.

The biggest bone of contention is the casting of the title role which went to West Side Story‘s Rachel Zegler, a Latina actress of Colombian descent. She has faced a racist backlash as the character in the original is portrayed as a Caucasian with “skin as white as snow.”

Zegler, 22, caused an outcry by telling Variety that in the remake Snow White “is not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love.”

In place of Prince Charming, American actor Andrew Burnap plays Jonathan, an entirely new character. Ansu Kabia stars alongside him as the Huntsman whilst Gal Gadot is the Evil Queen.

The fundamental change to the story has disenchanted David Hand, whose father worked on the original with Walt Disney. Last month, he said that the duo “would be turning in their graves” as the original was made “with good taste.”

He described it as a “disgrace” that Disney is “trying to do something new with something that was such a great success.”

Even the seven dwarfs, who accompany Snow White in the cartoon, have been replaced with a band of diverse “magical creatures”. Leaked photos in July showed that the only actor with a form of dwarfism is American Martin Klebba, star of 2012 fantasy comedy Mirror Mirror.

The photos were taken in the United Kingdom, and this shines a spotlight on the movie’s cost as well as its cast.

The finances of films are usually a closely-guarded secret as studios combine the cost of individual movies in their overall expenses and don’t itemise how much they spent on each one.

Movies filmed in the UK are an exception and Snow White is one of them. It was shot just outside London at the historic Pinewood Studios and on location across the UK.

Productions made there benefit from the government’s Film Tax Relief scheme which gives studios a cash reimbursement of up to 25% of the money they spend in the UK provided that it represents at least 10% of the movie’s total costs.

In order to demonstrate this to the government, studios set up separate companies to make each movie and they have to file financial statements showing everything from staff numbers, salaries and costs to the amount of cash reimbursement they receive.

The companies usually have code names so that they don’t raise attention with fans when filing for permits to film on location. Snow White was made by Disney’s UK subsidiary Hidden Heart Productions.

Recently-filed financial statements show that over the three years to July 31, 2022, Disney spent $209.3 million (£150.5 million) on making the movie. The filings add that the colossal cost was partly driven by the pandemic causing “delays to the production of the motion picture.”

The blockbuster spending benefits the UK as studios use local services such as equipment hire, travel and visual effects firms. Filming also drives employment and last year Hidden Heart Productions had 354 staff which doesn’t even include freelancers who make up the majority of the crew on a film shoot. Disney was well-rewarded for hiring them.

As we recently revealed in the Daily Mail newspaper, Disney has received a $41.1 million (£29.5 million) reimbursement for Snow White bringing its net spending on the picture to $168.2 million.

This is the baseline spending that the movie will need to cover. Its costs are likely to rise sharply as more than a year of post-production still had to be done after the date of the financial statements.

The estimate of how much money the movie will need to gross to cover its baseline costs depends on how much of the box office is received by studios.

The amount that theaters pay to studios is known in the trade as a rental fee and it differs by territory and even by film. Filings from theater chain AMC state that “rental fees are based on the box office performance of each film, though in certain circumstances and less frequently, our rental fees are based on a mutually agreed settlement rate that is fixed.

“In some European territories, film rental fees are established on a weekly basis and some licenses use a per capita agreement instead of a revenue share, paying a flat amount per ticket.”

However, it wouldn’t be representative to base the box office percentage on data from just one theater chain as they all have different levels of exposure. AMC for example has no theaters in major markets such as France and Japan.

Overall, it is understood that the box office share paid to studios rises to 55% domestically whilst China is around half that and it comes to around 43% on average in international markets. Many major blockbusters aren’t released in China, and when they are, the gross there is often small so it doesn’t tend to have a material effect on the overall split.

Taking the average of 43% and 55% gives roughly a 50-50 split of the box office between theaters and studios which reflects the findings of film industry consultant Stephen Follows. He interviewed 1,235 film professionals in 2014 and concluded that, according to studios, theaters keep 49% of the takings on average.

If Disney retains around 50% of the takings from Snow White, the movie will need to gross $336.4 million just to cover its baseline spending of $168.2 million. This is far from guaranteed.

One of Disney’s most-anticipated live action remakes in recent years was The Little Mermaid which was released in May. The movie failed to make a splash and only grossed $569.2 million according to industry analysts Box Office Mojo.

That was only around half the takings of Disney’s Aladdin and Lion King remakes which were released in 2019 and both grossed more than $1 billion. A continuation of that downward trend could see Snow White struggle to break even. However, if the movie makes even close to its predecessors, then it really will make Disney happily ever after.