Disney's live-action Moana movie washed up at the box office with an estimated global total of $95 million on its opening weekend.
It's a debut that puts the House of Mouse's latest remake just barely ahead of Snow White, which pulled just $87.3 million during its infamously underwhelming opening weekend in 2025. In other words, things aren't looking good for Moana.
The split puts its domestic haul at an estimated $43 million, with an international pull sitting at $52 million. While that still positions the Moana remake in first for the mid-July weekend, it's almost certainly not the numbers Disney was hoping to see as it continues pushing out live-action adaptations for some of its most beloved stories.
Starring Catherine Laga'aia as its titular princess and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, who once again plays Maui, the live-action Moana movie had some high-end projections hoping its opening weekend would bring in $60 million to $65 million domestically and as much as $75 million internationally. As that doesn't seem to come close to panning out, Disney will now face a painful reality with an even softer debut that stacks up against a reported budget of $250 million (via Variety).
When Snow White failed to perform last year, it supposedly resulted in the indefinite delay of the live-action Tangled movie. Although progress on that front was stalled for some time, it has since picked up steam with new additions to the cast following the success of the live-action Lilo and Stitch movie.
For now, there's no sign that Disney will course correct again as Moana fails to impress. In the meantime, Variety has reported that Tangled is expected to premiere in 2028. Other remakes in development include live-action Bambi, Hercules, and Lilo and Stitch 2, as well as a project based on Beauty and the Beast villain, Gaston.
In other box office news, Universal Pictures and Lionsgate's Michael Jackson biopic has passed $1 billion globally. It's an update that saw the movie reach an impressive milestone as it became the first biopic in history to reach the mark. Toy Story 5, meanwhile, is coming up on the same figure, now sitting at $879 million after its fourth weekend in theaters.
The weekend also brought yet another not-so-thrilling update for Supergirl, which now has a total haul of $115.4 million. That puts it still well out of reach from the already disappointing $200 million finish some were hoping for, suggesting significant losses for Warner Bros. and its budding DCU.
As the live-action Moana movie attempts to find its sea legs, you can read IGN's 6/10 review. In it, we said, "Dwayne Johnson returns as Maui opposite newcomer Catherine Laga'aia in this frame-by-frame retelling of the Disney animated musical that doesn't do enough to justify being made."
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
