Disney’s live action Snow White disaster unfolded almost a year ago. Movies are a long tail business. So it takes time to understand the true scale of such a disaster.
Well, the numbers are now in, and it is not pretty reading for Disney.
A production budget as high as $270 million was mooted, and against this was a $206 million worldwide gross.
Films made in the UK cannot indulge quite so fully in borderline criminal Hollywood Accounting practices, due to transparency rules to qualify for tax breaks across the Pond.
As a result, a more accurate financial picture often emerges from the tax filings. Forbes has analysed these and they indicate the studio will end up losing around reported $170 million on the project.
The total costs, including production budget and marketing, are estimated to end up at around $336 million.
The U.K. government will reimburse $64.9 million in tax credits.
The studio’s share of box-office revenue will actually be as low as $102 million.
Snow White suffered from a total 4 quadrant failure, largely from strange creative decisions that were then fully exacerbated by some ill-judged comments from leading stars.
Lilo & Stitch made over $1 billion, so nobody can say that Disney live-action remakes are doomed. Just the ones where the people involved in making them are a bit stupid.
