Live-action Moana tops box office with muted $43 million debut
Disney’s remake led North American theaters but opened near Snow White levels despite the franchise’s recent billion-dollar success.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
Disney’s live-action “Moana” opened at No. 1 in North America, but its first weekend fell short of the kind of launch usually expected from one of the company’s strongest recent family brands. Studio estimates released Sunday put the film at $43 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales.
The remake added $52 million from 50 international markets, bringing its worldwide opening to $95 million, according to the estimates. The performance came against a reported $250 million production cost and a crowded field of PG-rated movies competing for family audiences.
Disney has leaned heavily on “Moana” as a franchise. The 2016 animated original is the most-watched movie on Disney+, according to The Associated Press, and “Moana 2” crossed $1 billion worldwide after setting a Thanksgiving opening record with $225 million in 2024.
The new film arrived 19 months after that sequel. Directed by Thomas Kail, it brings Dwayne Johnson back as Maui and stars Catherine Lagaʻaia as Moana.
Critics were not kind to the remake. The Associated Press reported that reviewers largely faulted the film for hewing closely to the animated original, while Rotten Tomatoes listed it at 34%.
Audience reaction was stronger. PostTrak found that 63% of moviegoers said they would definitely recommend the film, with women making up 66% of the audience. Among parents, 78% said they would recommend it to other parents, and CinemaScore gave the movie an A-.
Family films crowded the market
The opening put “Moana” close to the debut of Disney’s “Snow White,” which began with $42.2 million and finished with $205 million worldwide. Other Disney live-action remakes have done far better, including “Lilo & Stitch,” “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast,” each of which topped $1 billion globally, according to The Associated Press.
Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, told The Associated Press that the weekend may have shown the limits of a crowded family slate. Universal’s “Minions & Monsters” placed second with $20.5 million, while “Toy Story 5” took third with $18.5 million.
Dergarabedian said families had several options at once, creating competition for the same audience. He also noted that PG-rated films led the box office in 2024 and 2025, suggesting the issue may be oversupply rather than a broad decline in demand for family movies.
“Toy Story 5” remained a strong holdover after four weekends, with a global total of $879.1 million, according to Rentrak figures cited by The Associated Press. “Minions & Monsters,” which opened below expectations over the July Fourth holiday, dropped 45% in its second weekend and has made $108.3 million domestically.
Other weekend results
Warner Bros.’ R-rated horror film “Evil Dead Burn” opened in fourth place with $13.7 million. The Associated Press reported that the launch was well below the roughly $25 million openings of the previous two installments in the series.
Angel Studios’ “Young Washington” finished fifth in its second weekend with $6.4 million. Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite” opened wide in sixth place, earning $5.7 million from 1,610 theaters.
Outside the domestic top 10, “Michael” crossed $1 billion worldwide, according to The Associated Press. It became the year’s second film to reach that mark after “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and passed “Bohemian Rhapsody” as the highest-grossing musical biopic.
Rentrak estimated the year-to-date domestic box office at just under $5.2 billion, up about 10.7% from the same point last year. Dergarabedian told The Associated Press that July has faced weaker results after strong May and June totals, with Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” still ahead on the release calendar.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.