It has been something of an ongoing cottage industry for months, as many on social media and we here at RedState have been tracking the fortunes of a major Disney Studios release. The issues surrounding “Snow White” have been blatant for some time and as those mounted, the prospects of this film diminished, leading to speculation as to how the audiences would respond and how the film would perform this weekend. 

It was as bad as expected, if not worse. In the weeks approaching this debut we saw the projections for the box office performance become scaled down repeatedly. Initially it was pegged to come in just under $100 million, in the $80-90 million range, but then reality began to get reflected. Lower and lower went the forecast, with the days before the release showing it would be an effort to see the film crest $50 million. Many on social media, like our Brandon Morse, were showing how local theaters were not showing many tickets being sold.

Even this was not to be.

By Saturday it was clear this was trending away from being a losing fiasco to becoming an outright disaster. That $50 million plateau was not to be reached, and $45 million was looked at as the target – and even that was missed. $43 million is the number looked at as the film clearly did not build through the weekend. Making this failure all the more stark is that it was not facing any real competition. But there are some very revealing metrics in this performance.

Often, what a studio might rest upon in light of a dismal performance is the international box office offering a bit of a bailout, but this was not to be. It was hoped that the controversies launched by star Rachel Zegler were limited to being a domestic problem, but globally the film pulled in far less than $100 million, a sign that the movie itself is deeply flawed. This was shown in yet another detail.

Deadline tried to place blame for this implosion on conservative audiences, the implication being that the movie was unfairly targeted. They looked into how the movie performed in politically red counties across the country versus blue counties, expecting to see a stark divide and lay the blame on an anti-woke sentiment; instead, an eye-opening detail emerged.

Looking at past averages in those conservative-versus-liberal locations it was found that “Snow White” actually performed slightly better than historical levels in those red areas against those traditional percentages.

Family and animated movies’ ticket sales come from 63% Blue counties and 37% Red counties while their attendance stems from 60% Blue counties and 40% Red counties. That means that Snow White with 40% ticket sales and 43.5% admissions from Red county-based cinemas overindexed in such locations. 

What this revealing detail means is that the studio has lost its ability to spin this as a social backlash. Disney cannot dismiss this as an intolerant reaction when its film performed below expectations with its dependable blue locations. Coupled with the diminished interest in international territories, this is a sign that the product quality was the issue. Anti-woke backlash is no longer an excuse when the avoidance by audiences was across the spectrum.

What Disney is facing with this performance is that it had a functionally flawed film. Numerous misfires in the approach to the product and with casting led to a result that few had an interest in. Instead of focusing on the quality of the material, the studio looked to generate a new version with contemporary virtue signaling, making a progressive spin on a classic property.

The result was not creating a new fusion offering; instead, it ended up serving up a dish that most found unpalatable. The box office shows data points that indicate the woke tendency at Disney is a losing proposition. Looking over its recent hits – “Deadpool 3”, “Inside Out 2”, and “Moana 2” – lays out the obvious facts for the executives. When you do not force feed woke content, the audiences reward you with interest and ticket purchases. “Snow White” should serve as the object lesson for future considerations on projects they greenlight. It remains to be seen that Disney is learning from these misfires.