Disney’s live-action Moana fails to make a splash at the box office with a rough opening | Video

Review of the Walt Disney Company Moana it may be the No 1 movie at the North American box office but it didn’t make much of a splash in its first weekend in theaters.

The film, which cost $250m (£187m, A$360m) to make, only earned $43m from ticket sales in the US and Canada, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Internationally, it grossed $52m from 50 markets, adding $95m (£71m, A$137m) worldwide.

The studio bet a lot Moanaone of its most popular franchises. The 2016 animated series is the most-watched movie on Disney+. Its sequel, which was adapted from a planned series, grossed more than $1bn and set a Thanksgiving record when it opened with $225m in 2024.

This latest Moana, directed by Thomas Kail, will bring back Dwayne Johnson as the god Maui and introduce Australian actress Catherine Laga’aia as a Polynesian princess. Despite Laga’aia’s acclaim, the film continued to receive negative reviews from critics for being a mere remake of the original.

Moana now sits at 34% on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience, most of whom were women (66%), was much smaller: according to PostTrak, 63% said they would “definitely” recommend the film to friends. Parental engagement was particularly strong, with 78% saying they would recommend it to other parents. It also has a reliable A- CinemaScore.

Disney’s recent adaptations of beloved movies, new and old, have had both successes and disappointments. Others have made more than $1bn, including Lilo + Stitch, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. Some have flopped, notably last year’s Snow White, which only made $205m worldwide. Moana opened more than Snow White, which made $42.2m over the weekend at the North American box office and $87m worldwide.

Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak’s head of market trends, said Moana’s launch could also be attributed to the growing presence of PG in the market: Universal’s. Minions & Monsters was in second place with $20.5m and Play Story 5 was close to third place with $18.5m, and a worldwide total of $879.1m.

“Families like to go to the movies but right now there are three,” Dergarabedian said. “It’s a lot of competition.”

PG-rated movies outperformed others in 2024 and 2025, so Moana’s performance may not be “family movie fatigue,” he said, but it does show that there may be a ceiling. Families have to decide and, at the end of four weeks, Toy Story 5 is still going strong.

There are also signs that these movies won’t sink or swim based on the weekend alone. Although Minions & Monsters opened below expectations for the Fourth of July holiday, it also dropped slightly by 45% this weekend. Its total domestic revenue stands at $108.3m.

The total domestic box office for the year is now under $5.2bn, up 10.7% from last year. Although May and June were very strong – both making $ 1bn in North America – July, Dergarabedian said, was met with a storm and poor performance, including Supergirl. Things could pick up next week with the arrival of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey followed by Spider-Man: Brand New Day at the weekend.

“They will end up stronger in August than in July at the box office, which would be very unusual,” said Dergarabedian.