Apparently the call wasn’t out there at all for “Moana,” which brought in just $52 million in its international box office debut.
Disney’s latest live-action remake struggled to make waves with $43 million domestically and $95 million worldwide, a catastrophic start given the film cost $250 million to produce. Heading into the weekend, Disney was projecting a $75 million launch overseas and $130 million to $140 million globally.
Top territories were Australia with $5.3 million, France with $5.2 million and Korea with $3.8 million. Meanwhile “Moana” bombed in China with $1.2 million.
“Moana” stands as one of the worst starts among Disney’s live-action remakes, joining the ranks of 2025’s “Snow White” which ignited to $44 million overseas and $87 million globally. Analysts at the time argued that “Snow White” failed in part because the property, based on a film from 1937, was too old and doesn’t have the same cultural cache with today’s audiences. “Moana,” meanwhile, might be too recent. The original animated adventure was released in 2016, while the billion-dollar sequel swam to theaters less than two years ago, around Thanksgiving 2024. Nostalgia has been important with Disney’s live-action remakes, and adaptations from the ’90s and early 2000’s — like last year’s “Lilo & Stitch,” “The Lion King,” “Aladdin” and “Beauty and the Beast,” all of which crossed $1 billion — seem to fair the best. A remake of 2010’s “Tangled” is in the works for 2028.
