The Walt Disney Co.'s live-action, controversy-bedeviled "Snow White" opened in theaters with a sleepy $43 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
With a budget above $250 million, "Snow White'' had set out with higher ambitions.
But this "Snow White" struggled to find anything like a fairy tale ending.
The runup to release was plagued by controversies over the film's handling of the dwarfs, who are rendered in CGI, and backlashes over comments by its star, Rachel Zegler.
The PR headaches prompted Disney to pull back on its premiere.
Warner Bros.' "Alto Knights," a period gangster film starring Robert De Niro in both lead roles, flopped with $3.2 million.