The live-action Moana, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Catherine Lagaʻaia, is off to a slow start after it made just $18 million on opening day, including $4.5 million in Thursday preview screenings, from 3,875 North American theaters.

Compared to the live-action Lilo & Stitch released in May 2025, which took in $55M domestically on its opening day, or the $56.6 million the original Moana earned over its opening weekend in 2016, live-action Moana does not seem to be attaining the numbers Disney was hoping for.

For more comparison, on opening day, the live-action version of The Lion King, released in 2019, earned $78.5 million, and the 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast brought in $63.8 million.

The live-action Moana is in theaters 10 years after Disney released the original animated version. The original film was a huge hit, earning $248.7 million domestically and $435.6 million internationally for a worldwide total of $684.3 million. It had a $150 million budget before marketing costs.

The 2024 animated sequel, Moana 2, made $460.4 million in North American theaters and $598.8 million internationally for a global box office total of $1.059 billion.

Opening weekend projections have dropped significantly from the once reported $85M. This morning, Deadline projects that live-action Moana will now take in between $42 million and $46 million this opening weekend.

According to Variety, Disney has spent an estimated $250 million on the production costs for the live-action movie, which does not include the global marketing and distribution costs.

Early reviews have the movie sitting at a 33% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, a little higher than earlier this week.

What do you think of live-action Moana? Let us know on social media.

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