Disney’s live-action Moana has made a weaker-than-expected start at the worldwide box office, raising fresh questions about whether the studio’s latest remake can replicate the success of its animated predecessor and other live-action adaptations.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film collected an estimated $18 million in North America on Friday, including Thursday previews, and is now heading for an opening weekend of around $45 million from 3,900 cinemas. The result falls well short of Disney’s target of more than $60 million, while early tracking had suggested the film could debut with as much as $75 million.
Directed by Thomas Kail, the remake stars Dwayne Johnson and Catherine Laga’aia and carries a reported production budget of $250 million. Although audiences awarded it an A- CinemaScore, the film will now rely on strong family attendance throughout the summer to improve its box office performance. It also faces tougher competition next weekend with the release of Christopher Nolan’s R-rated The Odyssey.
The subdued opening mirrors the performance of Disney’s live-action Snow White, which debuted with $42 million in March 2025 despite its reported $270 million budget. Following that disappointment, Disney temporarily paused development of its planned live-action Tangled before reviving the project after the billion-dollar success of Lilo & Stitch.
The original animated Moana opened over the 2016 Thanksgiving holiday with $82 million across five days in North America before earning $643 million worldwide. It introduced Johnson as demigod Maui alongside Auli’i Cravalho as Moana. The pair reunited for Moana 2, which proved an even bigger success. Released in 2024, the sequel opened with $225 million domestically during the Thanksgiving holiday and went on to surpass $1 billion worldwide. Originally developed as a Disney+ series, the sequel’s move to cinemas created an unusual timing challenge, as production on the live-action remake had already begun in mid-2024.
Disney’s previous live-action versions of animated classics, including Alice in Wonderland (2010), Beauty and the Beast (2017) and The Lion King (2019), all debuted with more than $100 million at the North American box office. Those films also received stronger critical reception than the live-action Moana, which currently holds a 34 per cent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, The Hollywood Reporter described the remake as “a charming new iteration” that “stands confidently on its own”.
Despite its slow start in cinemas, Disney says the Moana franchise remains one of its strongest brands. The studio reports that the property has generated more than 1.5 billion hours of viewing on Disney+, sold over 22 million toys worldwide and surpassed 26 billion music streams.
