Disneys Snow White film tops box office despite bad reviews

Disneys live-action version of the classic fairy tale Snow White has topped the North American box office chart despite a slew of underwhelming reviews.

The movie has taken an estimated $87.3m (£67.5m) globally during its opening weekend, according to Box Office Mojo. Almost half of that figure came from North America.

But that is below expectations for a film which reportedly cost more than $270m.

The reworking of the 1937 feature length animation had seemed like a surefire hit before running into a series of controversies ahead of its release.

The revamp of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became a flashpoint for social and political divisions, even before it reached cinemas around the world.

That included some criticism of the casting of Rachel Zegler, who is of Colombian descent, as the heroine.

There was also a backlash about Zeglers pro-Palestinian comments and about pro-Israel comments by Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who plays Snow Whites stepmother, the Evil Queen.

And there is an ongoing debate about whether there should have been dwarfs in the film at all, live or computer-generated imagery (CGI).

In mainland China, Snow White ranked outside the top five movies in cinemas, according to EntGroups China Box Office website.

In the country of more than 1.4bn people, it brought in less than a $1m in its first three days in cinemas.

"I suspect that the multiple controversies have dulled the films appeal," entertainment industry consultant Patrick Frater told the BBC.

"That and the waning impact of many Hollywood productions in Asia which we have seen since the beginning of the pandemic."

On the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Snow White has a critics score of just 44%, although the audience reaction Popcornometer stands at 73%.

Chief film critic for The Times, Kevin Maher, said: "Believe the anti-hype, its that bad", but the Hollywood Reporters David Rooney called the film "mostly captivating".

With its creepy CGI dwarfs and muddled tone, Disneys latest live-action remake is "not calamitous" but is "a mind-boggling mash-up", the BBCs Nicholas Barber said.