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\n <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Disney<\/span>\n <\/div>\n
Things didn’t go as planned for Disney’s Moana during its box office premiere. The studio’s remake of its beloved 2016 cartoon of the same name was expected to successfully expand the scope of the sprawling Moana franchise. Instead, it’s now poised to become one of the summer’s biggest flops after a very rocky start to its theatrical run.<\/p>\n
Directed by Thomas Cale, Moana grossed $43 million domestically. The film also earned $52 million overseas for a worldwide opening of $95 million. That’s well below previous estimates, which had Disney’s latest venture grossing around $70 million domestically in its debut. “Moana” and “Evil Dead Burning” should have been a double box office hit<\/a>but things went wrong. So House of Mouse is facing a potentially huge loss for this one, which will have to make up a ton of ground on streaming and VOD down the road.<\/p>\n With an absolutely huge budget and very little growth potential after the opening weekend, things could go downhill fast if this movie doesn’t release before the end of August. For reasons we’ll get into, Disney can’t count on that at this point. While Moana 2 was one of three Disney films to break the $1 billion mark<\/a> in 2024, the live-action remake of Moana is a wreck.<\/p>\n So what went wrong here? How did Disney miscalculate the interest in a live-action remake of Moana? We are going to take a look at the main reasons why the film failed at the box office in its opening weekend. Let’s figure it out.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n Critics were very critical of the new take on Moana. Not that critics always move the needle much for a movie that audiences are already ready for, but harsh criticism of a big summer blockbuster never helps, that’s for sure.<\/p>\n The Moana remake currently has a pretty terrible critic rating of 33% Rotten tomatoes<\/a>. However, it has a 90% audience rating and an A-CinemaScore. Because of that, Disney will have to hope that word of mouth turns this movie into a long-running success like Out ($39 million in opening \/ $634.5 million worldwide) as opposed to a major flop like Tim Burton’s live-action Dumbo ($45.9 million in opening \/ $353.2 million worldwide). Unfortunately, during the crowded summer season, it will likely be closer to the latter.<\/p>\n Moana, like the animated film, tells the story of how the main character (Catherine Lagaia) answers the call of the Ocean and goes beyond the reef of his island Motunui with the infamous demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) on a journey to restore prosperity to his people.<\/p>\n \/Film director Whitney Seibold called Moana a “flat, lifeless, artificial remake” in his review<\/a>. Even though the audience that came to see the movie didn’t like it, having that much negativity out there probably made a lot of people decide, “I’m going to wait to stream it on Disney+.” The bar for getting out of the house and going to the cinema has never been higher, so bad reviews make things more difficult.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n It’s true that PG family movies have really taken off in recent years. That’s a big part of the reason why In 2025, Disney’s Lilo and Stitch will make $1 billion<\/a>. The problem right now, especially for a movie like Moana that doesn’t have any significant critical buzz, is that there’s stiff competition in that particular arena. And part of that comes from Disney itself.<\/p>\n for one, “Toy Story 5” leads the box office<\/a> since opening in late June. It added another $18.5 million last weekend and now stands at $879 million worldwide. It will soon be the third Hollywood film of 2026 to join the $1 billion club. It’s also worth noting that critics and audiences have been almost unanimous in their support for the latest entry in the Toy Story franchise, making it perhaps a more appealing option for movie-going families.<\/p>\n Then there’s Minions and Monsters , which had a softer-than-expected opening at the box office, but still good enough for the Minions franchise to have a future<\/a>. It added $20.5 million during its second frame domestically, nearly double its overseas haul. Combined with Toy Story 5, that’s an awful lot of money that Moana was fighting for. Something like “Evil Dead Burn” wasn’t a problem (it’s just counterprogramming), but those movies directly ate their lunch.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\nCritics strongly disliked Moana live<\/h2>\n
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\n <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Disney<\/span>\n <\/div>\nDisney’s “Moana” faced stiff competition<\/h2>\n
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\n <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Disney<\/span>\n <\/div>\nMoana wasn’t an old enough property to get the live-action treatment<\/h2>\n