Walt Disney Company’s live-action adaptation of “Moana” debuted as the top-performing film at the domestic box office with $43 million in ticket sales from U.S. and Canadian theaters during its opening weekend. The film generated an additional $52 million from 50 international markets, bringing its global total to $95 million. Given the film’s reported production budget of $250 million, industry analysts characterized the opening as underwhelming relative to the studio’s investment and the franchise’s track record.
The live-action film reunites Dwayne Johnson as the demigod Maui and introduces Catherine Lagaʻaia as the titular princess. Thomas Kail directed the adaptation, which drew comparisons to the original 2016 animated feature. Critical reception proved challenging, with the film receiving a 34 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, primarily due to assessments that it functioned as a near-identical remake of the source material. However, audience response showed more favorable results, with 63 percent of moviegoers indicating they would recommend it to friends, and a CinemaScore rating of A-.
Disney’s decision to adapt “Moana” followed the commercial success of the 2024 sequel, which opened with $225 million domestically and surpassed $1 billion globally. The original animated “Moana” remains the most-watched film on Disney Plus. The studio’s live-action remake strategy has produced mixed results historically, with some adaptations like “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast” exceeding $1 billion in worldwide revenue, while others such as “Snow White” underperformed significantly.
Industry analysts attributed the opening weekend performance partly to marketplace saturation within the family film category. Three major PG-rated films competed for audiences simultaneously: “Moana,” Universal’s “Minions & Monsters” in second place with $20.5 million, and “Toy Story 5” in third position with $18.5 million. Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, noted that while family audiences drive substantial box office revenue, market capacity exists for only a limited number of simultaneous releases targeting the same demographic.
The broader box office landscape showed continued recovery, with year-to-date domestic figures approaching $5.2 billion, approximately 10.7 percent ahead of the corresponding period from the previous year. Industry observers anticipate potential improvements in August box office performance following the upcoming releases of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”