'Moana' joins 'Snow White' as the latest live-action Disney film to bomb at box office
The era of the lazy live-action Disney Studios remake might be finally, mercifully, coming to an end.
Disney has, for most of the past decade, made a point to abandon original movies in favor of taking its beloved catalog of animated films and turning them into "live-action" remakes. Some of these have been successful either critically or commercially, like the 2015 version of "Cinderella," 2016's "The Jungle Book," or the 2019 remake of "The Lion King," which inexplicably made nearly $1.7 billion worldwide.
As recently as 2025, "Lilo & Stitch" made over $1 billion globally. But these success stories are matched by a number of failures, both financially and otherwise. And hopefully the disastrous mistakes in its most recent efforts puts a stop to the endless slog of poorly conceived and executed movies churned out by a once-proud studio.
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"Snow White," also from 2025, became one of the biggest financial failures in modern Hollywood history, an unsurprising outcome given the long list of obvious mistakes. Star Rachel Zegler was wildly miscast, then spent much of the promotional period criticizing the classic original film. Negative reaction to leaked on-set photos led to a year of delay as the film was reshot and edited to salvage the plot.
It didn't work. Zegler's performance was widely panned, her off-putting statements and attitude affected attendance, and the film lost Disney an astonishing $170 million. This past weekend, even without the same level of negative pre-release press, "Moana" opened in theaters. And is remarkably tracking to be a similar loss.
Incredibly, Disney gave the "live-action" version of "Moana" a whopping $250 million budget. Not including a massive marketing spend. Assuming at least $100 million in marketing costs, a fairly standard number for a big-budget film, that's $350 million in production costs. Given a 50/50 revenue split with theaters, that's an estimated $700 million break-even point.
In its first weekend, which can typically account for around 40% of a film's total box office, it made...$43 million. If that 40% rule holds true, that's just $107 million at the domestic box office. The original made $248 million in 2016, roughly equivalent to $346.5 million after adjusting for inflation.
"Moana" may do a bit better at the worldwide box office, like its predecessor, but there's little chance that it comes anywhere close to breaking even, let alone profitability, given this disappointing first weekend. In fact, Disney estimated a $60-$65 million weekend and $140 million globally. Already poor numbers. It came up nearly $50 million short, with just $95 million total.
Given the massive costs, this film is going to lose at least $150 million for Disney studios, nearing even the "Snow White" debacle. So what happened?
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Reviews were bad, as critics and audiences saw the lack of effort put into the project. Between Dwayne Johnson's awful wig, the atrocious special effects, and the obviously fake, desaturated backgrounds that looked nothing like the colorful world of the original, there was little reason to expect quality. The original is just 10 years old, and is easily accessible on streaming services. Many moviegoers saw it for the money grab that it is.
And Johnson's insufferable comments about representation didn't help. During a recent red carpet interview in the lead-up to release date, he told Variety that he believes "Moana" matters for its representation and visibility, explaining, "'Indiana Jones' inspired me. When I was 8 years old watching Harrison Ford, I was like, ‘I want to be that guy,’ but that guy didn’t look like me."
Is that comment the reason the film tanked? No, of course not. But it's another reminder of how obsessed Hollywood is with this type of inaccurate, eye-rolling pandering. No, Johnson didn't look like Harrison Ford. He also became one of the most famous and successful actors in the modern entertainment industry because many people who don't look like him identified with his wrestling character or enjoyed his performances anyway. Should people who aren't "represented" in "Moana" not see the film? Is that the only reason it's being made?
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All these factors play a role in Disney taking yet another substantial loss. They're running out of ideas and animated films to remake, leading to desperate, poorly conceived remakes like this. They overspend on budgets and marketing, only to see talent undermine their efforts. There's new leadership at the top of the Disney corporation, and their first lesson and top priority should be to end the era of lazy live-action slop and ban the word "representation" from any and everything associated with the company.