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The Walt Disney Company’s live-action "Moana" opened at the top of the North American box office this weekend, but the film's early numbers point to a difficult start.
The movie, reported to have cost $250 million to make, earned $43 million from ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates released Sunday. It added a further $52 million internationally across 50 markets, bringing its global debut to $95 million.
The studio bet big on "Moana," one of its most popular franchises. The 2016 animated film is the most-watched movie on Disney+. Its sequel, which was stitched together from a planned streaming series, made more than $1 billion and scored a Thanksgiving record when it opened with $225 million in 2024.
This latest "Moana," directed by Thomas Kail, brings Dwayne Johnson back as the demigod Maui and introduces the Australian actor Catherine Lagaʻaia as the adventuring Polynesian princess. Despite praise for Lagaʻaia, the film set sail on a wave of dismal reviews from critics for being essentially a shot-for-shot remake of the original.
Moana is now sitting at 34% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences were less negative: 66% were women, and according to PostTrak, 63% said they would "definitely" recommend the film to friends. Parent reactions were even stronger, with 78% saying they would recommend it to other parents. It also got a promising A-CinemaScore.
Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, said Moana's debut may reflect PG-rated oversaturation, with Universal's Minions & Monsters $20.5 million and Toy Story 5 $18.5 million both still performing strongly in theaters.
“Families love going to the movies but right now there are three of them,” Dergarabedian said. “That’s a lot of competition.”
Since PG-rated films outgrossed others in 2024 and 2025, he said the issue may not be "family movie fatigue" but simply a ceiling on how many family films audiences can choose between at once.
The overall domestic box office for the year stands at just under $5.2 billion, up about 10.7% from this point last year, though July has lagged behind a strong May and June with a run of underperformers.
Dergarabedian expects things to pick up with the arrival of "The Odyssey" and "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" in the coming weeks. "They could power a stronger August than July at the box office," he said, "which would be very unusual."
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