Disney’s Live-Action ‘Moana’ Hits Choppy Waters — $250M Tentpole Opens to Dismal $95M Global Debut, Raising Existential Questions for Studio’s Remake Strategy

Disney’s highly anticipated live-action reimagining of Moana set sail into theaters this weekend — and promptly capsized at the box office. The film earned just $43 million** domestically and **$52 million internationally, for a global opening of approximately $95 million, according to studio estimates released Sunday.

While the debut was enough to claim the No. 1 spot on domestic box office charts, it’s a catastrophic start for a production carrying a reported **$250 million** budget — and that’s before marketing and distribution costs. Industry projections had been far more optimistic, with forecasts suggesting a domestic opening between $60 million and $65 million and a global launch as high as $140 million. The massive shortfall has cast a dark cloud over the film’s profitability prospects.

Even more troubling for Disney: this opening barely edges out 2025’s widely-panned Snow White live-action remake, which debuted to $42.2 million domestically and ultimately grossed just $205 million worldwide against a similar $250 million budget — making it one of modern Hollywood’s most notorious box office bombs. *Moana*’s opening also falls short of 2019’s *Dumbo* live-action remake, which opened to $45.99 million.

What went wrong for what should have been a surefire hit?

First, the “shot-for-shot” approach backfired. Directed by Thomas Kail (Hamilton), the film brings Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson back as the demigod Maui alongside newcomer Catherine Lagaʻaia as Moana. But critics were merciless. The film holds a paltry 34% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it “a competent but pointless and unexciting back-to-basics live-action remake,” adding that it “feels like a superfluous piece of monetizable content”. The Independent awarded it one star, decrying it as “a waste of everyone’s time and talent”. Empire noted that with its heavy CGI usage, calling it “live-action” is itself a misnomer.

Second, the timing was disastrously off. The original 2016 animated Moana remains the most-watched movie on Disney+. More critically, the animated sequel Moana 2 arrived in November 2024 and grossed **over $1 billion** worldwide, opening to $225.4 million in its first five days. That means the live-action remake hit theaters less than two years after the sequel. As analysts have noted: wait too long, as with Snow White and Dumbo, and cultural resonance fades; move too quickly, and there’s insufficient nostalgia to drive audiences back to theaters for something they’ve already seen — and can readily stream on Disney+. The original film is barely a decade old, and the sequel’s afterglow hasn’t faded.

Third, the family-film marketplace is brutally crowded. Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak, noted that while PG-rated films outperformed others in 2024 and 2025, Moana’s struggles aren’t about “family movie fatigue” — they’re about a “ceiling”. Three major family films are currently competing for the same audience: Universal’s Minions & Monsters took second place with $20.5 million in its second weekend, while *Toy Story 5*, now in its fourth weekend, added $18.5 million and has accumulated $879 million globally. “Families love going to the movies, but right now there are three of them,” Dergarabedian said. “That’s a lot of competition”.

Notably, audience response tells a different story from critical reception. Among those who showed up — 66% of whom were women — 63% said they would “definitely” recommend the film to friends, with parental recommendation rates reaching 78%. The film also earned an A- CinemaScore. Yet in today’s review-driven marketplace, a 34% Rotten Tomatoes score presents a formidable barrier to word-of-mouth momentum.

With two consecutive live-action flops, is Disney’s remake machine broken?

Disney’s track record with live-action adaptations has become increasingly binary. The studio’s hits — 2019’s The Lion King and Aladdin, 2017’s Beauty and the Beast, and 2025’s Lilo & Stitch (which opened to $146 million) — have all crossed or are on track to cross the **$1 billion** mark. The common thread? All are based on animated classics from the 1990s and early 2000s — what appears to be the “sweet spot” for Disney’s live-action formula.

The failures — Snow White (based on 1937 animation) and now Moana (based on 2016 animation) — represent the two extremes of “too old” and “too new”. Snow White reportedly lost Disney as much as $170 million**; *Moana* is now projected to lose between **$100 million and $125 million.

These results are already reshaping Disney’s release slate. Following Snow White’s failure, the live-action Tangled remake was reportedly put on indefinite hold. While the project was revived after Lilo & Stitch’s success and is now eyeing a 2028 release, Moana’s disappointing performance will likely force Disney executives to rethink the cadence and selection logic of their remake strategy. Other projects currently in development include live-action adaptations of Bambi, Hercules, Lilo & Stitch 2, and a Gaston-centric spinoff from Beauty and the Beast.

When “shot-for-shot” fidelity no longer guarantees success, and when franchise reboots outpace audience nostalgia cycles, Disney’s live-action remake machine faces an uncomfortable reckoning. What audiences truly want — a carbon copy or a fresh reimagining worthy of another trip to the theater — may well determine the next decade for the House of Mouse.