“Moana” bellyflopped in its box-office debut, and the miss should provide Disney film executives with some hard-earned lessons.
Disney’s new live-action remake about the uber-popular Polynesian princess failed to bring audiences aboard, with a $43 million domestic opening that was only slightly above the disastrous start for the “Snow White” remake last year.
“‘Moana’s’ performance this weekend certainly has everyone questioning the animation-to-live-action strategy often employed by Disney,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends at media research firm Rentrak.
The Mouse House has used sequels and remakes as an easy, low-risk way to generate tons of cash, though a flop for one of its most popular movies means this strategy may be losing luster with fans.
“Disney invented this live-action phenomenon based on their animated films, and they’ve had remarkable success with them,” said box-office analyst David Gross in a Sunday report. “But this opening isn’t close to Disney’s past remakes.”
Unlike the ill-fated “Snow White” adaptation, this “Moana” movie had no notable controversies, and it didn’t make polarizing creative choices like last May’s successful “Lilo & Stitch” remake (which brought in over $182 million in the US in its debut).
Here are the three key reasons “Moana” sank in its box-office opening weekend, according to analysts.
1. It’s all too familiar
The new “Moana” is “an almost shot-for-shot (and line-for-line, in some cases) remake of a five-star masterpiece,” Business Insider’s Gabbi Shaw wrote in a review of the live-action remake.
By mimicking the original “Moana,” Disney avoided angering audiences who might not have wanted to see major changes to the hit. But by declining to reimagine “Moana,” the live-action remake may not have excited fans either.
“The central conundrum with all of these remakes,” Shaw wrote in her review, is that Disney fans or parents with Moana-crazed kids could have simply put on the “superior animated film” instead of bringing the whole family to a theater.
Though controversy-free, the new “Moana” movie was something that “nobody was talking about, for better or worse,” said box-office analyst Scott Mendelson.
2. Too much ‘Moana’
Disney may have given audiences another “Moana” movie too soon.
The original animated film came out 10 years ago, and Disney struck gold with a billion-dollar “Moana 2” sequel in 2024.
Although the “Moana” movies are beloved, as they consistently rank among the most-watched films on streaming, kids may already be getting their fix of the princess from the comfort of their couch.
“This story wasn’t ready to come back, and audiences are not rushing to see it,” Gross said.
Analyst Shawn Robbins, the director of movie analytics at Fandango, said the timing of this “Moana” film missed the sweet spot.
“This live-action take arrived at least half a decade too early if the goal was for the box office to benefit from nostalgia and a generational hand-me-down to kids who didn’t see the original film in theaters or weren’t born yet,” Robbins said.
3. It faced stiff competition, including friendly fire
Another factor in the “Moana” remake’s slow start was that there are plenty of family-friendly films in theaters right now.
“The marketplace is a bit oversaturated with PG-rated family fare,” Dergarabedian said.
Disney decided to release the new “Moana” three weeks after its own smash-hit “Toy Story 5” and a week after “Minions & Monsters” from Universal, though that film has so far slightly underwhelmed.
Those films and the World Cup may have kept audiences elsewhere, Robbins remarked.
However, seeing movies isn’t always a zero-sum game. Mendelson said that family-friendly hits can spur rival movies, since kids see trailers in theaters and get excited.
“If people had wanted to see ‘Moana,’ they would have seen ‘Moana,'” Mendelson said.
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