Moana Live-Action Remake Sinks With $43 Million Opening, Testing Disney's Formula

Verified key facts

• Moana opened to $43 million from 3,827 North American cinemas over the July 10-12 weekend, per Variety and Box Office Mojo
• The global launch reached $95 million, well below the $130 million Disney had hoped for, per Deadline
• Variety pegged the production budget at $250 million before marketing costs
• The film scored 35 percent on Rotten Tomatoes but earned an A- CinemaScore from opening audiences, per Variety
• The debut rivals Snow White's $42 million 2025 opening as the weakest for a Disney live-action remake

A $43 Million Opening That Missed Every Target

Disney's live-action Moana opened to an estimated $43 million from 3,827 North American cinemas over the July 10-12 weekend, per Box Office Mojo figures cited across the trade press. The remake added roughly $52 million from international markets. That produced a $95 million global launch, per Deadline.

The result fell far short of what the studio needed. Deadline reported that Disney had hoped for a worldwide start closer to $130 million. Variety pegged the production budget at $250 million before marketing. On those numbers, the film now faces a long and uncertain road to profitability in cinemas.

Among the Weakest Disney Remake Debuts on Record

Variety described the opening as among the weakest ever for a Disney live-action remake. The closest comparison is Snow White, which debuted to $42 million domestically in March 2025 and became one of the studio's most painful recent write-downs.

Kotaku observed that Moana is tracking almost identically to that earlier misfire. The comparison stings because Moana arrived with far stronger brand equity. The 2016 animated original was a global hit, its 2024 sequel was a box office smash, and both remain streaming staples for family audiences.

The international picture offered no rescue either. The film's $52 million overseas start, per Deadline, shows the remake failing to connect abroad, where Disney's remakes have historically earned the bulk of their money. Without that international cushion, the film's global ceiling drops sharply.

That familiarity may have worked against the new version. Audiences who can watch two beloved animated Moana films at home showed little urgency to buy tickets for a photoreal retelling of a story they already know by heart.

Critics Panned It, Paying Audiences Were Kinder

Reviews were rough. The film holds a 35 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, per Variety. Directed by Hamilton stage director Thomas Kail, the remake stars newcomer Catherine Laga'aia as Moana, with Dwayne Johnson reprising his role as the demigod Maui in live action.

Ticket buyers who did show up responded more warmly. Opening audiences gave the film an A- grade on CinemaScore exit polls, per Variety. That split between critics and crowds has cushioned earlier Disney remakes, though it rarely rescues a film from a soft start of this scale.

Audience chatter was harsher than the exit polls suggest. Inkl reported that some fans dismissed the film as a 'lifeless carbon copy' of the animated original, a critique that echoed complaints made about Disney's shot-for-shot Lion King remake.

A Slow Weekend Across the Whole Market

Moana's stumble came during a sluggish frame for the wider box office. Film-Book's weekend report put the overall market at $117.7 million, down 24.7 percent from the previous weekend, as holdover family titles cooled sharply.

• Moana opened at number one with $43 million, per Film-Book's weekend chart
• Minions & Monsters slid 45 percent to $20.5 million in second place, per Film-Book
• Toy Story 5 eased 39 percent to $18.5 million in third, per the same report

The animation-heavy chart underlines Moana's core problem. Family audiences already had two animated blockbusters in the marketplace. A third family event film, retelling familiar material, struggled to register as essential viewing rather than an optional repeat.

Star Salaries and Costly Economics Under Scrutiny

The film's economics drew immediate scrutiny. AOL reported that Dwayne Johnson earned a massive salary on the project despite the weak result, a detail that sharpened questions about how the budget swelled to $250 million.

Post-mortems arrived quickly across the trade press. The Hollywood Reporter published an analysis asking why the remake bombed, pointing to strain in Disney's live-action strategy. SlashFilm ran its own list of five reasons for the flop, and Forbes had flagged soft tracking days before release.

The wider July slate offered little comfort. Industry trackers cited by Utica Phoenix noted that Supergirl has grossed just $107 million globally against roughly $290 million in combined production and marketing costs, making it the summer's other high-profile casualty.

What It Means for Disney's Remake Pipeline

Disney has leaned on live-action remakes for more than a decade, and the strategy once delivered billion-dollar grossers. Two high-profile stumbles in consecutive summers now suggest the formula is losing its pull with family audiences, even when a bankable star fronts the campaign.

Cinemablend argued Disney can still salvage its upcoming adaptations by choosing properties with more room for reinvention. The studio has several remakes in various stages of development, and executives will be studying this result closely before committing to similar budgets.

There is a streaming consolation, though a limited one. Disney's underperforming remakes have generally found large second audiences on Disney+, where the animated Moana films already rank among the platform's most-watched titles. But a $250 million theatrical production cannot be justified by streaming replays alone, and shareholders know it.

The immediate test comes this weekend. Moana needs a modest second-weekend drop and strong word of mouth to claw toward respectability. If the film collapses instead, the debate about retiring the remake playbook will grow much louder inside Burbank.

Sources

• Variety - Moana flounders with $43 million debut, among weakest Disney live-action remakes (11 July 2026)
• Deadline - Box office: Moana disappoints with $43M U.S. opening (12 July 2026)
• The Hollywood Reporter - Why Disney's live-action Moana remake bombed at the box office (13 July 2026)
• Film-Book - Box office July 10-12, 2026: Moana, Minions & Monsters, Toy Story 5 (13 July 2026)