Moana Flounders with $43 Million Debut, Among Weakest of Disney’s Live-Action Remakes
by Rebecca Rubin
July 13, 2026


Moana failed to make a splash at the box office, earning $43 million from 3,827 North American theaters in its opening weekend.

Those ticket sales, though enough for No. 1 on box office charts, are disastrous given the live-action Moana remake has a massive $250 million production budget — and that’s before Disney‘s hefty marketing spend.

Moana also floundered overseas with $52 million for a global launch of $95 million.





Second place went to Minions and Monsters with $20.5 million from 4,244 venues in its second weekend, a 45% decline from its debut. So far the Despicable Me spinoff has generated $108 million domestically and $280 million globally.

Although the newest Minions may wind up as the lowest-grossing entry in the commercially successful franchise, this installment was produced for $85 million and will turn a profit for the studio.





Toy Story 5, one of the summer’s biggest hits, secured the No. 3 spot with $18.5 million in its fourth outing. It has earned a mighty $403.8 million in North America and $879.1 million worldwide to date, putting the film on track to surpass $1 billion.

Toy Story 5 should overtake its predecessor, 2019’s Toy Story 4 ($1.07 billion), as the highest-grossing entry in the beloved franchise.





Warner Bros. and New Line’s “Evil Dead Burn”, the 6th entry in The Evil Dead franchise, opened in fourth place with just $13.7 million from 3,004 theaters.

Sony is releasing the R-rated film at the international box office, where it earned $13.3 million, bringing its worldwide tally to $27 million.





At No. 6, A24’s comedy The Invite collected $5.7 million while expanding to 1,610 theaters.

After three weekends in limited release, the well-reviewed film has grossed $7.3 million.





Lionsgate’s Michael surpassed $1 billion at the global box office, becoming the first biopic to ever cross the coveted milestone.

It’s only the second film of the year, after Universal’s animated The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, to join the billion-dollar club, though Toy Story 5 is expected to join the party.

https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/moana-box-office-opening-weekend-weakest-disney-live-action-remake-1236808979/





July 10-12, 2026: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Moana $43,142,824
2. Minions & Monsters $21,150,030 / $108,923,365
3. Toy Story 5 $19,007,761 / $404,280,481
4. Evil Dead Burn $13,701,012
5. Young Washington $6,902,287 / $33,560,379
6. The Invite $5,721,062 / $7,384,507
7. Obsession $3,849,365 / $253,371,765
8. Supergirl $3,760,829 / $66,201,943
9. Disclosure Day $3,351,500 / $111,465,415
10. Backrooms $1,485,500 / $194,197,303

-feYvPOd01c

Captain Midnight examines the evolving strategy behind Disney's live-action remakes, analyzing the shift from consistent box-office dominance to recent audience fatigue. The discussion explores why certain intellectual properties succeed while others struggle, questioning the long-term viability of relying on existing classics in a rapidly changing cinematic landscape.

Why Disney's Live-Action Moana Remake Bombed At The Box Office (https://www.looper.com/2214423/why-disney-live-action-moana-remake-bombed-box-office/)

SQ_Cubb16xI

You could argue that Disney's live-action remakes are little more than soulless cash grabs, so what happens when one fails to grab much cash? 2026's "Moana" made just $43 million domestically in its opening weekend and only an extra $52 million in international markets. It's shaky territory for a film with a $250 million price tag, so what went wrong? You can watch our breakdown video above to get all the answers, but here's a quick breakdown.

First, we have to talk about that budget. Any movie that costs $250 million to make is going to face an upward battle recouping its costs. Critics didn't hold back during the first round of reactions to "Moana," (https://www.looper.com/2211016/moana-disney-live-action-movie-reactions/) which certainly didn't help matters. The fact is that every live-action Disney remake has the same problem (https://www.looper.com/1297694/every-disney-remake-exact-same-problem/) in that they're overly reliant on CGI, and in the case of "Moana," there's some very obvious green screen on display. That wouldn't necessarily be an issue if it looked good, but it doesn't, so you have to wonder where the money went. The answer is probably Dwayne Johnson's wallet.

On top of all that, the live-action "Moana" is basically a shot-for-shot remake of the original (Disney's live-action remakes tend to follow this blueprint (https://www.looper.com/2211794/90s-movie-blueprint-disney-live-action-remakes-gus-van-sant-psycho/)), so why would people go to the cinema to see it when they can watch the animated version on Disney+? Yes, there's the novelty of seeing Johnson play the demigod Maui in person, but the original film has way more spirit and looks a hundred times better — the original "Moana" only came out in 2016 so it's not even like the animation looks dated. In fact, it still looks great, so taking in Moana's tale in a dull, live-action setting feels redundant.