Disney's Live-Action Moana Opens Below Expectations

Disney's live-action adaptation of "Moana," starring Dwayne Johnson and Catherine Laga’aia, opened to roughly $18 million domestically on Friday, including Thursday previews, according to box-office reports. The film is projected to finish its opening weekend with about $45 million from 3,900 North American screens, well below the studio's target of more than $60 million and lower than early tracking that suggested a potential $75 million debut. The movie received an A-grade CinemaScore from audiences and carries a production budget of $250 million, meaning it will need strong family attendance in the weeks ahead, especially as Universal's "The Odyssey" is set to open next weekend.

The opening performance mirrors the $42 million debut of the 2025 live-action "Snow White," which also fell short of expectations. Disney previously paused development on a live-action "Tangled" after that film's underperformance, though the project resumed later in the year. The original 2016 animated "Moana" opened with an $82 million five-day domestic total and earned $643 million worldwide, while its 2024 animated sequel, "Moana 2," generated $225 million domestically and surpassed $1 billion globally.

Disney's earlier live-action remakes—"Alice in Wonderland" (2010), "Beauty and the Beast" (2017) and "The Lion King" (2019)—each opened with more than $100 million domestically and held higher Rotten Tomatoes scores than the current film's 34 percent rating. Critics have offered mixed reviews; chief film critic David Rooney noted that the new version "stands confidently on its own," while also pointing to its low critical rating.

Other releases this weekend include Warner Bros.' "Evil Dead Burn," which earned $6.7 million, and Universal's "Minions & Monsters," which posted $6.5 million on Friday, bringing its domestic total to $108 million. Disney's "Toy Story 5" took in $5.6 million, and the Angel Studios film "Young Washington" earned $2.1 million.