‘Moana’ Disappoints With $45M Opening

Disney’s live-action reimagining of its 2016 animation stumbles, two years after the massive launch for Moana 2.

Catherine Laga'aia in Disney's live-action 'Moana.' — Catherine Laga’aia in live-action ‘Moana.’ Courtesy of Disney

Dwayne Johnson: No Longer Viable Star

Disney‘s live-action Moana, which stars Dwayne Johnson and Catherine Laga’aia, got off to rocky start as the reimagining of the original 2016 animation opens at the box office.

Director Thomas Kail‘s new feature leads the weekend with only $18 million domestically Friday, including Thursday previews.

Moana is eyeing an opening around $45 million from 3,900 American screens, which would put it short of its targeted $60 million-plus figure, after initial tracking suggested the film could reach $75 million.

Earning an A- CinemaScore from audiences, Moana carries a huge $250 million production budget and will need to draw family audiences as Chris Nolan’s R-rated The Odyssey joins next weekend from Universal.

This start is reminiscent of the $42 million opening in March 2025 for Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot’s Snow White, a box office disappointment that earned a B+ CinemaScore and had a production budget of $270 million. Weeks after the subdued debut, Disney paused development on its planned live-action Tangled. The feature went back into development in the fall following the success of Lilo & Stitch, which opened in May 2025 to $146 million in North America, en route to hitting $1 billion globally. Tangled is currently in production in Spain, while a live-action sequel to Lilo & Stitch is on its way.

The original Moana becomes the most recent Disney animation done as live-action. The first film having hit theaters less than a decade ago when it scored an $82 million five-day domestic opening over Thanksgiving in 2016, leading to a $643 million global cume. That 2016 film introduced Johnson as demigod Maui alongside Auli’i Cravalho as the titular girl with exceptional navigation skills, with the pair teaming up to stop a curse from targeting her island.

A bigger hit when it debuted theatrically less than two years ago was Moana 2, the animated 2024 sequel that saw Johnson and Cravalho reprise their roles. Originally conceived as a Disney+ series, Moana 2 opened to $225 million domestically over the five-day Thanksgiving frame and ultimately surpassed $1 billion globally for its run. However, moving it to a theatrical release created a tricky timing situation for the live-action Moana, which began production in mid-2024.

Disney’s live-action remakes of its popular animated properties have included such photorealistic versions as Alice in Wonderland (2010), Beauty and the Beast (2017) and The Lion King (2019), all of which opened to more than $100 million domestically. Those three had the benefit of a higher Rotten Tomatoes score than the live-action Moana’s current 34 percent critics rating,

The Moana franchise clearly has plenty of fans. Disney touts that the property has amassed more than 1.5 billion hours streamed on Disney+, along with selling more than 22 million toys and surpassing 26 billion music streams.

Also opening in wide release is Warner Evil Dead Burn, which kept the No. 4 spot warm with $6.7 million, including Thursday previews. Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright and Hunter Doohan star in director Sébastien Vanicek’s movie that marks the sixth title in the Evil Dead horror franchise after it kicked off with Sam Raimi’s 1981 original.

After kicking off its box office run last week, Universal’s Minions & Monsters provided family competition for Moana and heads toward a second-place finish with $6.5 million Friday for a frame of $21 million. This brings its domestic run to $108 million after notching the lowest opening for a film in Illumination’s Despicable Me franchise that launched in 2010.

Taking third place is Disney’s Toy Story 5, with the returning voices of Osvar winner Tom Hanks and Tim Alleno. The animated sequel picked up $5.6 million on Friday and is expected to come in at around $18.6 million after recently surpassing the $800 million mark in its global run.

Young Washington rounds out the top five, as the Angel Studios release looks to collect $2.1 million Friday in its sophomore frame. William Franklyn-Miller stars as a 20-something George Washington in the film that opened to $19 million domestically over the Fourth of July weekend.

Article