Hoppers Had a Worse Debut than Rachel Zegler’s Snow White: The Media Pretends It’s the Opposite

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Despite potentially lower ticket sales than Pixar’s ‘Snow White‘ last year, news outlets aren’t reporting that ‘Hoppers’ is underperforming.

The recent releases of Disney’s live-action Snow White and Pixar’s Hoppers clearly show how media coverage can heavily influence how people view a movie’s success. Although both films earned roughly the same amount of money in their opening weekends, news reports presented very different narratives. Snow White was largely reported as underperforming, while Hoppers is being hailed as a hit and a positive indicator for original animated films.

So what gives? What’s behind the narrative switcharoo?

Pixar is celebrating a successful weekend, as their new movie ‘Hoppers’ earned the most money at the box office.

Full chart:

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 9, 2026

The Box Office Numbers

Disney’s live-action Snow White, featuring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, launched in March 2025, earning $43 million in North America and about $87 million worldwide during its first weekend. While a solid opening, the film didn’t quite reach expected numbers—projections were around $50 million or higher—and experts observed a lack of strong excitement from moviegoers.

Pixar’s Hoppers opened in early 2026 with roughly $46 million in North America and $88 million globally during its first weekend. However, Hoppers benefited from extra preview showings and more IMAX screens to boost those numbers. When looking at actual performance, Snow White (2025) actually did better. It’s striking how much more negatively Rachel Zegler’s film was received compared to the current positive media attention for Pixar’s new release.

The tone of media coverage surrounding the two films could hardly have been more different.

Pixar is having a great weekend with its new movie, ‘Hoppers,’ and it’s on track to earn around $40 million in the U.S. and Canada. This is their best opening for an original animated film since ‘Coco’ came out in 2017, and there’s a lot of excitement coming from the studio in Emeryville, California.

Specifically, there’s a ‘Monsters Inc. 3’ in early works,…

— Deadline (@DEADLINE) March 9, 2026

Reports about the movie Snow White largely focused on its disappointing performance and the issues surrounding it. Many headlines highlighted that its $43 million opening weekend was lower than expected, leading to concerns about whether it would ultimately be profitable. This negativity was partly due to the film’s high production costs. With an estimated budget of $240 to $270 million – and likely exceeding $300 million – Snow White needed to earn a substantial amount worldwide just to cover its expenses.

The film’s release was met with significant cultural and political debate. Before it even hit theaters, discussions about the cast, changes to the depiction of the dwarfs, and comments made by star Rachel Zegler regarding the 1937 original sparked months of negative press.

Because of this, the film’s opening weekend was seen as proof it hadn’t met expectations. Industry news sources and entertainment websites often used words like “disappointing,” “weak,” or “not impressive” to describe how it performed.

The reaction to Hoppers has been almost the complete opposite. However, that’s not deserved.

News reports initially focused on the positive aspects of the film, including good reviews, excited audiences, and the fact that it was a new story, not a continuation of an existing one. Critics particularly liked it, giving it a 94-97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes – one of Pixar’s best scores in years. Many articles pointed out that the film had the strongest opening weekend for an original animated movie since Coco in 2017, suggesting people were still interested in fresh ideas. However, despite this initial impression, the film actually performed very poorly, ranking among Pixar’s lowest-grossing films when accounting for inflation.

Instead of pointing out flaws, most reviews framed the film as a return to form for Pixar, especially after some recent movies that weren’t as well-received. The successful marketing, including a lot of attention on social media, also showed that audiences were really excited about it.

Interestingly, while a similar level of ticket sales led to negative press for Snow White, the same results were seen as a win for Hoppers.

But why?

Ultimately, how much coverage a film gets shows us something key about today’s box office reports: what people expect a movie to do is often more important than the actual ticket sales. Even more significantly, these reports frequently seem to be shaped by what results the studio wants to present.

Pixar’s ‘Hoppers’ is predicted to earn over $40 million in its opening weekend, marking a significant success for the studio. Meanwhile, ‘The Bride!’ is expected to perform poorly at the box office.

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 8, 2026

Expectations for Disney’s new Snow White film were incredibly high, given the studio’s significant investment and the importance of the original story. When the movie’s opening weekend numbers were a little lower than predicted, it was quickly labeled a disappointment. At the same time, there was already negative sentiment within Hollywood towards Rachel Zegler, with rumors circulating that she was challenging studio leadership and creating a difficult work environment. Despite the potential long-term consequences for Disney’s live-action remakes and princess franchise, industry insiders seemed willing to accept Snow White‘s perceived failure. This allowed journalists and online personalities to openly share critical perspectives, and negative stories quickly gained traction.

Expectations for the new Pixar film, Hoppers, were low, and it faced a significant risk of not performing well. Animated movies haven’t done as well in theaters since the pandemic, and Pixar had recently relied on sequels to achieve big successes. When Hoppers opened with around $40-50 million in revenue, it was considered a pleasant surprise. Declaring it a failure could negatively impact how people view the potential of Toy Story 5, damage Pixar’s reputation, and worry investors about Disney’s leadership in animation. There’s no advantage to anyone in portraying Hoppers as anything less than a success, and that’s why it’s being presented that way.

Although Snow White (2025) and Hoppers earned almost the same amount of money at the box office when they were released, critics responded to the two films in very different ways.

Of course, there’s more to this than meets the eye. Powerful people are trying to profit from this situation, and they want you to overlook the fact that Hoppers didn’t actually earn very much.

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2026-03-10 19:05