Topline
Disney’s live action “Moana” adaptation grossed only $43 million over its opening weekend, according to early figures reported by the Hollywood trade publications, coming in under expert projections and far behind the record-smashing success of “Moana 2,” the most recent animated film in the franchise.
Key Facts
“Moana” grossed about $43 million at North American theaters since Friday, coming in just under Boxoffice Pro projections of a $45 million-$55 million opening weekend.
The film also underperformed internationally, grossing an estimated $52 million in overseas markets for only $95 million total.
That means the new remake has a long way to go to recoup its budget—“Moana” reportedly had a production budget of $250 million before marketing, Variety reported, and theaters typically keep about half of ticket sales.
The opening weekend is one of the worst for Disney live action remakes—a disappointing followup after the “Lilo & Stitch” remake in 2025 opened with $146 million to eventually gross over $1 billion globally.
Although it retained Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in his starring role as the demigod Maui, it performed significantly worse than “Moana 2,” which broke some of Disney’s Thanksgiving weekend records in 2024, grossing $139.7 million over the traditional weekend and $225 million over the full five-day weekend.
Even the first animated “Moana” was a bigger hit on opening weekend, grossing an estimated $56.6 million in 2016.
Children’s Features Dominate Another Weekend
Ticket sales were dominated by children’s movies this weekend. Despite getting off to a rocky start last weekend, “Minions & Monsters,” Universal’s most recent addition to its “Despicable Me” franchise, came in second place with another $20.5 million this weekend. “Toy Story 5” continued its strong run in theaters with another $18.5 million for total gross in North American theaters of $403.7 million.
What to Watch For
Although July has been marked by box office disappointments so far, movie buffs are excited for several big debuts in the second half of the month. Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated “The Odyssey” adaptation hits theaters next weekend. Experts at Boxoffice Pro are anticipating a massive $100 million-$120 million opening for the adaptation of the ancient Greek classic, outpacing Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” opening ($82.4 million in 2023), but not quite reaching the phenomenon levels of “The Dark Knight” and “The Dark Knight Rises” ($158.4 million and $160.8 million, respectively).
Tangent
“Michael,” the Michael Jackson biopic that broke records when it was released in April, finally crossed the $1 billion threshold in sales, becoming the first biopic ever to reach the milestone. It’s only the second film to reach the $1 billion box office milestone this year so far, following “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.”
