The live-action Moana remake made just $4.5 million during Thursday evening previews, which began at 2 p.m.
Moana Previews Box Office
Compare to the live-action Lilo & Stitch released in May 2025, which raked in $14.5M on its preview and ultimately became one of the most successful films of the year. The maligned live-action Snow White, on the other hand, earned only $3.5M in previews. It looks like Moana is trending closer to the latter.
Projections for the opening weekend have dropped from $85M to $40M.
Early reviews have the movie sitting at a 35% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, a little higher than earlier this week but still not great.
Jake Coyle of the Associated Press said, “All inventiveness has gone out to sea.” Tasha Robinson at Polygon noted, “Virtually every line, beat, and song in the new movie is identical to the 2016 version, apart from a few minor punch-ups or extra comedy tags here and there. There’s no artistic or aesthetic reason for this movie to exist.”
The Popcornmeter has no rating yet as audience reviews are just starting to roll in.
The original animated Moana was released Thanksgiving week 2016 and made $2.6 on Tuesday previews, which began at 7 p.m. That was the highest ever preview opening for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film at the time. It ultimately grossed $248.7M in the U.S. and Canada and a global total of $687.2M.
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