The failure of Snow White may dramatically change how Disney approaches future live-action remakes. Even though it is based on the 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is one of the most iconic Disney movies ever, reviews for Snow White have been quite poor. Screen Rant’s own Rachel Labonte gave the live-action adaptation an underwhelming score of 5 out of 10, noting that the CGI dwarfs make the film feel artifical and stressing that Snow White’s ending is very anticlimactic. Currently, Snow White also has a disappointing score of 40% on Rotten Tomatoes (via Rotten Tomatoes).

In addition to its poor reviews, Snow White has also been a box office flop. The film has only made $169 million at the box office (via Box Office Mojo), and it doesn’t seem like it will make much more since it has already lost a lot of momentum. Since Snow White’s budget was reportedly $240 million, it seems like Disney is going to lose a lot of money on the movie. Because of the critical and commercial performance of Snow White, it seems like Disney may reconsider how they approach future live-action remakes of its iconic movies.

Snow White’s Box Office Has Caused Disney To Halt A Tangled Live-Action Remake

Snow White’s Box Office Has Already Affected Another Upcoming Disney Movie

Not long after the release of Snow White, Disney paused production on the Tangled live-action adaptation. This seems like a response to Snow White’s disappointing box office performance, which will likely lose the company hundreds of millions of dollars. The Tangled live-action film was a planned remake of the critically acclaimed 2010 animated movie, which has an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes (via Rotten Tomatoes). The story of the animated Tangled movie follows the princess Repunzel, who is locked in a tower by the evil Mother Gothel before being rescued by the dashing prince Flynn Rider.

While no official casting announcements were made for the live-action Tangled film, it was set to be directed by Michael Gracey, who helmed 2017’s The Greatest Showman and the critically acclaimed 2024 Robbie Williams biopic Better Man. While the upcoming live-action Tangled movie hasn’t been officially canceled, it is currently unclear when production will resume. More than likely, Disney executives are still figuring out how to proceed after the major box office flop of Snow White.

Disney Has Had Diminishing Returns With Live-Action Remakes Lately

Several Recent Live-Action Remakes Have Been Box Office Disapointments

Given the box office performances of recent Disney movies, it is clear that audiences are losing interest in the company’s live-action remakes. In recent years, Disney has adapted classic and more recent animated movies into live-action films, and while some of them have found success, others have not been the box office juggernauts that the company was hoping for. For example, while 2023’s The Little Mermaid made $569 million at the worldwide box office, its mᴀssive $240 million budget means that Disney did not make that much money from the film.

Additionally, 2019’s Dumbo only made $353 million on a budget of $170 million. The Little Mermaid and Dumbo are just two examples of live-action Disney remakes that underperformed at the box office. It makes sense that Disney was willing to spend so much money on these two films, since they are both based on such popular animated movies, but the company did not make nearly as much money as it was hoping to on either project.

This is not to say that all of Disney’s recent live-action films have been failures. In fact, after getting a slow start at the box office, 2024’s Mufasa: The Lion King recovered and ended up making an impressive $721 million. Therefore, upcoming live-action Disney remakes are not guaranteed to be failures. However, it is clear that Disney is not making as much money with its live-action remakes as it once was at the box office. Furthermore, the majority of Disney’s recent live-action movies have been critical failures and have “Rotten” scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

Disney Has More Live-Action Remakes Coming

Lilo & Sтιтch & Moana Live-Action Movies Have Release Dates

Even though the live-action Tangled remake was unfortunately a victim of Snow White’s poor box office performance, Disney still has several upcoming live-action remakes. Most notably, Lilo & Stich will hit theaters on May 23, 2025 and the live-action Moana film is currently set for a July 10, 2026 release date. Since both of these movies have already gone through production and have had release dates announced for a while, it is unlikely that Disney will delay them.

In addition to these two projects, several other Disney live-action remakes are still in development, such as Hercules, Robin Hood, The Aristocrats, and Bambi. While development on the live-action Tangled film was halted, these four projects are all seemingly still moving forward. Hopefully these projects can continue as planned and don’t experience delays, but time will tell whether Disney plans to adjust its strategy with its upcoming live-action remakes. In a best-case scenario for Disney, both Lilo & Sтιтch and the live-action Moana will be successful and get the company back on the right track.

Disney Should Pause Making Live-Action Remakes Entirely After Snow White

Disney Needs To Avoid More Critical & Commercial Failures

Luckily for Disney, I think Lilo & Sтιтch and the live-action Moana movie will make a lot of money at the box office. Based on the film’s trailers, Lilo & Sтιтch seems like it will be a very fun and entertaining movie for the whole family. Additionally, both the animated Moana movies made a lot of money at the box office. Therefore, these two films should be guaranteed box office successes for Disney. However, even if these two projects are commercially successful, it may still be best for Disney to take some time to adjust their live-action remake strategy.

Snow White is the most recent of many critically panned live-action Disney remakes. In addition to Snow White, 2020’s Mulan, 2022’s Pinnochio, and the aforementioned Dumbo were all very underwhelming live-action Disney films. Overall, many of Disney’s recent live-action remakes haven’t done justice to the iconic animated films they are based on. Since Disney’s animated movies are beloved by fans all over the world, I think it is best for the company to potentially pause production on its upcoming projects and change their approach after the failure of Snow White.