“Moana” failed to make a splash at the box office, earning $43 million from 3,827 North American theaters in its opening weekend.
Those ticket sales, though enough for No. 1 on box office charts, are disastrous given the live-action “Moana” remake has a massive $250 million production budget — and that’s before Disney’s hefty marketing spend. Arriving in theaters a decade after the original 2016 animated musical and less than two years after the sequel, “Moana” underscores the trickiness of timing in terms of Disney’s live-action remakes. Wait too long, à la “Snow White” and “Dumbo,” and there’s not enough cultural resonance; go too soon, and there’s not enough nostalgia to bring audiences back to theaters for something they’ve seen before (and can readily watch on Disney+).
“Moana” also floundered overseas with $52 million for a global launch of $95 million.
“Disney invented this live-action phenomenon based on their animated films, and they’ve had remarkable success with them,” says David A. Gross, who publishes the box office newsletter FranchiseRe. “But this opening isn’t close to Disney’s past remakes.”
Heading into the weekend, Disney was projecting a $60 million to $65 million domestic debut and $140 million globally, which already would have been rocky for a tentpole of this size. After falling short of estimates, “Moana” is now contending with 2025’s box office bomb “Snow White” ($42 million debut) for the unfortunate distinction of the lowest opening among Disney’s live-action remakes. “Snow White,” an adaptation of a nearly 90-year-old property, left the big screen with $87 million domestically and $205 million globally against a $250 million budget. With a similar box office run, “Moana” could lose around $100 million for the studio in its theatrical run.
