In a weekend that upended expectations, Jason Statham’s latest action vehicle, A Working Man, stormed to the top of the box office with a gritty $15.2 million debut, leaving Disney’s glossy Snow White remake staggering in its dust. The live-action fairy tale, which had pinned high hopes on holiday-season magic, plummeted 66% in its second weekend, pulling in just $14.2 million—a steep fall from its once-promising perch. It’s the kind of twist that feels ripped from a Hollywood script: the scrappy underdog outmuscling the studio titan.
Disney’s Snow White, a lavish reimagining of the 1937 animated classic, has now tallied $66.8 million domestically and $143.1 million worldwide. But those numbers pale against the film’s towering production budget, which exceeds $250 million before marketing costs are even factored in. For a movie that needed to conjure blockbuster gold, this second-weekend nosedive—66% is the kind of drop that sends studio execs scrambling—signals trouble. Word-of-mouth, that elusive alchemy of audience buzz, seems to have fizzled rather than sparkled, leaving Snow White looking more like a cautionary tale than a triumph.
Contrast that with A Working Man, where Statham does what he does best: growl, punch, and draw a crowd. Directed by David Ayer—whose prior Statham collaboration, The Beekeeper, proved the actor’s action bona fides—this tale of a retired military vet taking on human traffickers isn’t rewriting the cinematic rulebook. Critics gave it a lukewarm shrug, and audiences slapped it with a “B” CinemaScore, hardly a ringing endorsement. Yet its $15.2 million opening proves Statham’s brand of sinewy, no-nonsense thrills still has a pulse with moviegoers. It’s not art-house fare, but it’s catnip for anyone craving a shot of adrenaline over a spoonful of sugar.
The weekend’s other newcomers barely registered on the radar. The Woman in the Yard, a Blumhouse horror entry, scraped together $9.4 million, while A24’s quirky Death of a Unicorn managed $5.8 million. Meanwhile, The Chosen: Last Supper, tied to the faith-based series, played to its niche but didn’t shake the broader box office. These films flickered in the shadow of the Statham-Disney showdown, underscoring a stark reality: audiences wanted either raw action or, well, something Snow White couldn’t quite deliver.
What’s at play here is a snapshot of a box office in flux. Statham’s win feels like a vote for the familiar—a reliable star doing reliable things—while Snow White’s stumble raises prickly questions about Disney’s live-action remake machine. Once a golden goose, this strategy of dusting off animated classics for a CGI-polished encore has hit turbulence before (Dumbo, anyone?). With a $250 million-plus price tag, Snow White needed to be more than a nostalgia cash grab; it needed to resonate. Instead, it’s facing a grim horizon, with A Minecraft Movie looming next weekend to potentially siphon off whatever family audience remains.
For now, Jason Statham stands atop the heap, a working man’s hero in a landscape that’s increasingly hard to predict. Disney, meanwhile, might be left wondering if its fairy-tale formula has lost its spell. As the numbers settle and the next weekend looms, one thing’s clear: audiences are still hungry for something fresh—or at least something that feels like it’s fighting for their attention. A Working Man delivered the punch; Snow White took the fall.
source variety
