NEW YORK >> 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, particularly since it returns Disney to its very origins. The 1937 original “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was the company’s first animated feature.

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 and backlashes over comments by its star, Rachel Zegler. The PR headaches prompted Disney to pull back on its premiere.

— The Associated Press