5 Reasons Why Disney's Live-Action Moana Flopped At The Box Office

Things didn't go as planned for Disney's live-action "Moana" during its opening weekend at the box office. It was expected that the studio's remake of its beloved 2016 animated movie of the same name would successfully expand the scope of the greater "Moana" franchise. Instead, it's now poised to become one of the summer's most high-profile flops after a very rough start to its theatrical run.

Directed by Thomas Kail, "Moana" opened to $43 million domestically. The film also pulled in $52 million overseas for a $95 million global start. That was far below pre-release estimates, which had Disney's latest raking in closer to $70 million domestically in its debut. "Moana" and "Evil Dead Burn" were supposed to deliver a double box office win, but that's not how things panned out. As such, the House of Mouse faces a potentially huge loss for this one, which will have to make up a whole lot of ground on streaming and VOD down the line.

With an absolutely massive budget and very little upside potential beyond opening weekend, things could go from bad to worse in a hurry if this movie doesn't leg out well into August. For reasons we'll get into, though, Disney can't count on that at this point. Whereas "Moana 2" was one of three Disney movies to cross the $1 billion mark in 2024, the live-action "Moana" remake is a wreck on the rocks.

So, what went wrong here? How did Disney so gravely miscalculate the interest in a live-action redo of "Moana?" We're going to look at the biggest reasons why the movie flopped at the box office on its opening weekend. Let's get into it.

Critics were, well, very critical of the new take on "Moana." Not that critics always move the needle a great deal for a movie that audiences are already in the bag for, but harsh criticism of a big summer blockbuster never helps, that much is certain.

The "Moana" remake currently holds a pretty awful 33% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it's got a 90% audience rating and an A- CinemaScore. Because of that, Disney will have to hope word-of-mouth turns this one into a leggy success story like "Wonka" ($39 million opening/$634.5 million worldwide), as opposed to a major misfire like Tim Burton's live-action "Dumbo" ($45.9 million opening/$353.2 million worldwide). Unfortunately, in a crowded summer season, it's more likely going to be closer to the latter.

"Moana," much like the animated movie, follows the titular character (Catherine Lagaʻaia) as she answers the Ocean's call and ventures beyond the reef of her island of Motunui with the infamous demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) on a journey to restore prosperity to her people.

/Film's Witney Seibold called "Moana" a "flat, lifeless, artificial rehash" in his review. For as much as audiences who showed up to the movie enjoyed it, having that kind of negativity out in the world probably led to a lot of folks deciding, "I'll wait to stream it on Disney+." The bar for leaving the house to go to a movie theater has never been higher, so lousy reviews absolutely complicate matters.

It's true that family-friendly, PG movies have truly thrived in recent years. It's a big part of the reason why Disney's live-action "Lilo & Stitch" made $1 billion in 2025. The problem at this very moment though, especially for a movie like "Moana" that doesn't have any meaningful critical buzz going for it, is that there's stiff competition in that particular arena. And part of that comes from Disney itself.

For one, "Toy Story 5" has been ruling the box office ever since it opened in late June. It added another $18.5 million this past weekend and is currently sitting at $879 million worldwide. Before long, it will be the third Hollywood movie of 2026 to join the $1 billion club. It's also worth noting that critics and audiences have almost unanimously rallied behind the latest entry in the "Toy Story" franchise, making it perhaps a more appealing option to families headed to the movies.

Then there's "Minions & Monsters," which had a softer than expected opening at the box office but still did well enough to ensure the "Minions" franchise has a future. It added $20.5 million during its second frame domestically, doing nearly double that amount overseas. Coupled with "Toy Story 5," that's an awful lot of money taken off the table that "Moana" was vying for. Something like "Evil Dead Burn" wasn't an issue (it's just counterprogramming), but these movies were directly eating its lunch.

The Mouse House has made a lot of money from its live-action remakes over the years. A lot of money. Specifically, Disney made more than $7 billion at the box office from remakes between 2010 and 2019. Granted, it's been slightly more spotty in the pandemic era, but these remakes generally remain very popular with audiences. It's not hard to see why Disney thought remaking "Moana" was a good idea. The problem? It really was too soon.

The vast majority of properties that Disney remade over the last 15 years or so were based on older animated films, be they "Cinderella" or "Alice in Wonderland." The idea of remaking a movie that came out just 10 years ago was always a big gamble, especially when we also consider that "Moana 2" came out just a year and a half ago. Disney didn't give this one nearly enough time to breathe. There was no urgency or true excitement from fans of the franchise.

That made it easier for people to view this as something they could stream, rather than something they needed to rush out and see. Something like "The Jungle Book" offered a meaningful update to something that was popular in its day but didn't have much relevance to modern audiences. In this case, it was closer to a snake eating its own tail. Disney wanted to test the limits of what the market would bear in this arena, but this was a bridge too far. Or too close, I suppose.

One of the most common complaints amongst critics who didn't enjoy the "Moana" remake is that it didn't offer anything new. It was, for the most part, a straight-up piece-by-piece redo of the original animated movie, complete with Dwayne Johnson reprising his role as Maui in a suspiciously not-so-great wig. In short, it didn't offer up anything fresh, save for whatever charm there is in seeing this story play out in live-action. Although, in this case, even "live-action" is a somewhat loose descriptor, as the film features a whole lot in the way of CGI.

Where "Moana 2" told a different story with different characters and songs, the "Moana" remake just didn't have anything that new to offer. Compare that to Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," which not only had Burton's distinct visual style but also told a different story than Disney's animated film of the same name did.

Yes, audiences can be suckers for nostalgia, but they also do need something new to hook into. For as much as "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" was a nostalgia play, it still brought new characters and new ideas to the table. From the very beginning, however, the marketing made it clear that the "Moana" remake was very much a "the same but different" situation. That might have played better 10 years from now, but it really didn't work just a decade removed from the animated original. The latter was simply all too fresh in everyone's minds, making this one feel redundant.

If there's one thing that truly doomed "Moana," it's the movie's oversized budget. Disney's film reportedly carries a $250 million price tag. Yes, The Rock is a big movie star and doesn't come cheap. Yes, "Moana 2" made more than $1 billion. However, budgets of this size are so rarely acceptable in the modern marketplace that they should only be reserved for the most surefire bets. This one had potential but not enough for justify a sky-high investment such as this.

In truth, Hollywood has had a budget problem in need of a reckoning for years now. $200 million-plus budgets have killed tons of would-be franchise hits over the last handful of years. At some point, studios decided that $200 million was just an acceptable new norm for blockbusters. Yet, in a world where the box office hasn't fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, it makes less and less sense as time goes on (inflation be damned).

With a $250 million price tag (before marketing), this movie needs to make roughly $625 million worldwide, give or take, to begin to be considered a theatrical success. Granted, "Moana" has a lot of post-theatrical revenue potential, most notably when it comes to merchandising. But even taking that into account, this movie still needs to do, what, $500 million globally to even save face? That's just raising the bar too high, plain and simple.

It's a mistake we see time and time again in modern Hollywood, with Disney being one of the biggest offenders. Budgets need to come down, even with major franchise movies like this. There's no two ways about it. A global opening close to $100 million shouldn't be an almost automatic death sentence. Yet, here we are.

"Moana" is in theaters now.