Rachel Zegler continues to experience box office woes as her struggling horror comedy, Y2K, faced a massive 67% drop in its second weekend.
When Y2K burst onto the scene, it earned a paltry $2.1 million, far less than anyone would expect from a movie featuring someone Hollywood has tried to position as a rising superstar. But that scant $2.1 million opening looked like Avengers Endgame compared to what Zegler’s film encountered in its second weekend.
Rachel Zegler as Maria in 20th Century Studios’ WEST SIDE STORY. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2021 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
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Coming in number thirteen at the domestic box office, Zegler’s movie pulled in just $684,957 on 1,948 screens. For comparison, it fell short of a re-release of the 1954 film White Christmas, which earned $1.1 million on 1,084 screens.
Yes, a seventy-year-old movie on nearly half as many screens nearly doubled Zegler’s second-weekend box office gross.
Rachel Zegler via Good Morning America YouTube
Y2K provides an interesting case study in Zegler’s popularity and star power. None of her previous high-profile films achieved major success, and all relied on existing intellectual property or personalities.
West Side Story was a remake of a classic musical, directed by none other than the living legend himself, Steven Spielberg. Zegler starred as Maria in that film, and it bombed spectacularly.
Shazam: Fury of The Gods was a DC film and one of the final entries in the failed Snyderverse. Zegler played one of the antagonists, and it performed horrifically at the box office.
The Hunger Games: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes serves as a prequel to the ultra-popular Hunger Games series. Zegler had a starring role, and while the film didn’t lose money, it remains the lowest-grossing entry in the Hunger Games franchise.
Honor Gillies as Barb Azure, Konstantin Taffet as Clerk Carmine and Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Photo Credit: Murray Close
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Y2K was the first movie marketed exclusively on Rachel Zegler star power. It was the first time a Hollywood studio said, come see this “Rachel Zegler movie.”
And the moviegoing public loudly and proudly said, “no.”
It’s not surprising, given Zegler’s outlandish, childish behavior since she was cast as Snow White for Disney. She immediately arrived on the scene with a chip on her shoulder, as if challenging the world to take issue with a Hispanic woman playing Snow White. She felt the need to clarify that she wouldn’t bleach her skin to play the role, something no one expected her to do.
Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Snow White (2025), Walt Disney Studios
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She also spoke out in a series of increasingly cringey interviews and made wildly tone-deaf comparisons, including likening herself to priceless sculptures in the Louvre.
Then she attacked the original Walt Disney animated classic, calling it sexist and outdated, while comparing Snow White’s prince to a stalker.
Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Disney’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney Enterprises Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Zegler worsened the situation by using the Snow White trailer and its publicity to advocate for Palestine. Many quickly pointed out that Zegler’s Snow White co-star, Gal Gadot, is a veteran of the Israeli army.
In the wake of the 2024 US presidential election, the controversial actress finally went too far when she launched an unhinged tirade against President-elect Donald Trump and his supporters. She appeared to wish them harm or misfortune when she said, “may Trump and his supporters never know peace.”
Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Snow White (2025), Walt Disney Studios
Outrage over this comment reached such a fever pitch that Zegler had to issue an official apology on social media. However, whether she wrote the apology herself is anyone’s guess.
As of this writing, the most recent Snow White trailer has a stunning 96.2% dislike-to-like ratio. Since her apology and the trailer’s release, Zegler has remained oddly silent and absent from the public eye.
Do you think the Snow White outrage caused people to skip the Rachel Zegler film Y2K? Or did audiences simply have no interest in a comedy-horror film about the Y2K panic a quarter century after it happened? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
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