It seemed almost impossible, even to” Snow White” remake critics like myself, that it might fail to crack$ 200 million at the box office. Yet if the film does cross that level, it will be by the body of Quigg’s smile.
Advertisement
Quigg is evidently a figure in the fresh live-action type. I just know this because I checked IMDB for heroes who weren’t in the original, making me one of sometimes 12 citizens who weren’t involved in the production who know there’s a Quigg.
In its fifth weekend on screens,” Snow White” earned about$ 7 million in ticket sales domestically and internationally, bringing the total box office take to an estimated$ 194 million. The film cost an estimated$ 270 million ( after tax credits! ) plus another$ 70-$ 100 million to market and probably needs$ 625 million, after theaters take their cut, just to break even.
Oof.Â
While” Snow White” floundered, Disney announced that the live-action remake of” Tangled” was “on hold. ” While never actually canceled, the workshop has given zero indicator when or even if development will continue. Â
In field office words, live-action remakes aren’t any distinct from any other type. Some do well, some break even, some ( like” Snow White” ) flop. Creatively, though, each one reveals Hollywood’s creative bankruptcy, just as much as the endless parade of superhero movies ( and their diminishing returns, financially and creatively ) does.
Worse, live-action spinoffs are unwanted. Animation has a classic, abyss appeal to it that realistic CGI animals and gnomes simply doesn’t. Â
Advertisement
For all the online talk,” Snow White” may have done much better, and only a handful of different choices made early in the show’s production may have made all the difference.
First, a flick like” Snow White” has no business costing$ 320 million to produce, even if a$ 50 million UK tax credit brought Disney’s cost down to$ 270 million. But a film music shouldn’t be a third-of-a-billion-dollars feast, especially not one aimed at the Disney princess established. The live-action Snow White reboot should have been a$ 125 million movie.
All Disney had to do was get some real elves instead of those crazed CGI fugitives from the Uncanny Valley. They could have used functional pieces instead of a green-screen-heavy creation that star Rachel Zegler, in special, seemed ill at ease with. Maybe they could have insisted on a script that didn’t go all-in on Woke ( reportedly before the rewrites ) and socialism for the reshoots. Â
Finally, Disney could have avoided the bad press by getting back to doing what film studios used to do for every transfer: keep the players tightly scripted during all appearances ( now including online ) until the image is on the silver windows. Apparently, Snow White’s budget-busting reshoots were needed to connect slots blasted out of the script by Zegler’s off-script notes.
Advertisement
The picture might still have sucked, but at least it would have cost a fair amount to create and never had so much negative hype going for more than a year before its release.
Shoot a kiddie flick that doesn’t suck for$ 125 million, promote it for another$ 50 million, then count the profits as” Snow White” soars to a$ 400 or even$ 500 million box office. Â
Or — please hear me out — taking the classic, spend a few million cleaning up the display and beating up the index for multimedia tone, and rerelease it to audiences hungry for excellent family entertainment.
Maybe that sounds crazy, but is it any less crazy than spending close to$ 400 million on a$ 200 million flop?
Recommended : George Mason PhD Student Asks‘ When May We Remove ’ Trump. Hilarity Ensues.
Do you love PJ Media’s conventional reporting that takes on the extreme returned and woke advertising? Support our job so that we can continue to bring you the facts. Join PJ Media VIP and use the discount script FIGHT to get 60 % off your Club account! Â