The summer box office should get a shot in the arm later this month when highly anticipated titles like The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrive, but in the meantime, yet another big-budget studio tentpole is poised to disappoint. This weekend saw the release of Disney’s live-action Moana remake, retelling the story of the fan-favorite 2016 animated film. At one point, this new Moana was on track to gross around $85 million domestically in its debut, but projections steadily declined as it got closer to release. After an underwhelming haul from preview screenings that took place on Thursday, Moana‘s box office fate has been sealed.
According to Deadline, Moana earned about $43 million domestically in its opening weekend. That figure is only slightly higher than Snow White ($42.2 million) and below Dumbo ($45.9 million), two other Disney live-action remakes that disappointed commercially. Worldwide, Moana‘s debut stands at $95 million, which is much lower than the originally estimated $130 million.
Moana entered the summer as one of the few titles that could realistically approach the $1 billion threshold. The franchise has become one of Disney’s biggest, with the animated Moana 2 breaking box office records over Thanksgiving in 2024. However, the live-action Moana isn’t going to get anywhere near $1 billion, spelling disaster for the Mouse House. The film is budgeted at $250 million (not including marketing and distribution expenses), so it was going to have to turn a pretty penny in order to become profitable. Going by the general industry rule of thumb (a movie’s break even point is 2.5x the production budget), Moana will need to hit around $625 million globally just to recoup its costs. Instead of raking in cash, Disney is left wondering what went wrong.
From the beginning, things felt a little different regarding the Moana remake. This marks the first time Disney produced a live-action remake for a franchise when the animated series is still ongoing. Moana 2 came out less than two full years ago, and Moana 3 is in development. One of the main takeaways from the live-action remake’s performance is that it was far too soon to redo Moana. It’s telling that among the highest-grossing Disney remakes are live-action takes on ’90s animated classics like The Lion King ($543.6 million domestic total), Beauty and the Beast ($504 million), and Aladdin ($355.5 million). Last year’s blockbuster Lilo & Stitch ($423.7 million) was a remake of an animated film that was 23 years old. In these cases, enough time had passed for nostalgia to drive ticket sales. Moana didn’t have that since the animated series is still so fresh in people’s minds.
It also didn’t help that the live-action Moana earned largely negative word of mouth. The Rotten Tomatoes score (34%) is one of the lowest for a Disney remake. Critics felt it was little more than an uninspiring carbon copy of the original, swapping the 2016 film’s lush animation for flat visuals. Phrases like “creatively bankrupt” were used to describe the movie, so it was hardly considered a must-see on the big screen — especially when there are more appealing options for families currently playing (Toy Story 5, Minions & Monsters) and general audiences counting down the days until The Odyssey and Spider-Man. A perfect storm of bad reception and a poor release date doomed Moana.
What makes Moana‘s low opening all the more worse is the fact that the film is unlikely to have strong legs at the box office. The Odyssey (which admittedly has a different target demographic as an R-rated fantasy epic) is already receiving enthusiastic reactions and will be the top pick for casual moviegoers next weekend. Brand New Day is projected to have the biggest opening of the year so far, meaning Moana will probably have fallen down the charts by the end of the month. Disney has found a lot of success with live-action remakes, but Moana will be a misfire.
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