Moana’s poor box office performance proves a decade is too soon for a Disney remake

Disney’s live-action remake of Moana is the latest opening-weekend box office disappointment of the summer. According to Deadline’s reporting, the movie is estimated to have made only $43 million domestically during its first three-day weekend.

The opening weekend gross is similar to that of other live-action Disney remakes considered disappointments, like 2019’s Dumbo and last year’s Snow White. Disney’s Lilo & Stitch grossed over $1 billion in theaters last year, so Moana’s failure likely isn’t an indication that people no longer want live-action remakes. Instead, it’s proof that this Moana one happened too soon.

The animated version of Moana hit theaters in Nov. 2016 and is one of the few new Disney franchises to really explode in popularity since then. Moana’s success may have made Disney confident in the prospects for a live-action version. That said, movies aren’t quite like the video game medium, where a remake can be meaningful just a decade after release. The animated Moana 2 hit theaters just a year and a half ago, so it’s also not some grand revival of a beloved series like The Lion King and Lilo & Stitch were.

On top of that, this Moana remake faced increased competition from kids’ movies like Toy Story 5 and Minions & Monsters and wasn’t well-received. Polygon’s review of the flick states that “Nothing about this version asserts itself as unique, necessary, or even particularly interesting.” If Disney wanted people to come to theaters and watch a remake of a recent movie, it needed to do better than that.

If you’re curious about how other movies did at the box office this past weekend, you can check out Deadline’s full list of the top ten highest-grossing movies below.

1. Moana: $43 million
2. Minions & Monsters: $20.5 million
3. Toy Story 5: $18.5 million
4. Evil Dead Burn: $13.7 million
5. Young Washington: $6.44 million
6. The Invite: $5.7 million
7. Obsession: $3.8 million
8. Supergirl: $3.56 million
9. Disclosure Day: $3.2 million
10. Backrooms: $1.48 million