‘Moana’ Live-Action Remake Box Office Results Revealed — and It’s Not Pretty

Moana’s new musical, released in theaters last week, isn’t exactly making waves. At least not the good kind of waves it had hoped for.

The live-action remake of the 2016 blockbuster had a rough opening weekend at the box office. In North America, the movie brought in only $43 million and a total of $95 million globally. Though it came in tops among the worldwide box office, ahead of Kung Fu Soccer and Toy Story 5 who occupied the second and third slots – and those would appear to be massive numbers – they are well below what the studio behind the film, Disney, had been hoping for.

Moana cost roughly $250 million to produce and more than $110 million was reportedly spent on marketing the movie. The $95 million brought in globally by the movie is even more reason for Disney to gasp when you consider that their release of Snow White, released last year, brought in $87 million in the same time frame and was a colossal flop. 

Polymarket bettors had taken an interest in wagering on Moana’s opening weekend numbers. The market traded more than $150,000 on where the movie would end up after it’s three day opening weekend. A range of $39-44 million, which ended up being the winning total, saw the third-least amount of money wagered, leaving most bettors in the market as disappointed as Disney.

The original Moana film was a massive success, grossing nearly $690 million worldwide. It’s been a streaming monster on Disney+ and was even nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (“How Far I’ll Go”) at the Academy Awards.

This summer’s live-action remake of the animated movie from a decade ago is the third installment of the Moana franchise. Moana 2, released in 2024, made more than $1 billion across the box office.

The new release stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson who reprises his role as Maui. Catherine Laga’aia is in the role as Moana, and Jemaine Clement is cast in the role of Tamatoa. Clement, like Johnson, is reprising his role from the original.

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