Minions & Monsters (2026)

The Walt Disney Co.’s live-action “Moana” might be the No. 1 movie at the domestic box office, but it did not make a big splash in its first weekend in theaters. The movie, which cost a reported $250 million to produce, earned just $43 million from ticket sales in the United States and Canada, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Moana is the third box office flop of the summer, but where did things go so wrong for this live-action reimagining, and how did its budget get so out of control? Here's a full breakdown.

Dwayne Johnson's live-action"Moana" is the No. 1 movie in North America, earning $43 million in receipts this weekend, BoxOfficeMojo.com announced.

Disney Moana is set to become one of Disney’s worst-performing live-action remakes after debuting with a disappointing $43 million at the domestic box office. With a $250 million production budget, the film is expected to generate significant losses for Disney, which had projected at least a $60 million domestic debut and $140 million globally. It’s following a similar path to 2025’s disastrous Snow White remake, which opened with $42 million and was widely considered a box office bomb. Generally, live-action remakes perform well. Over the past decade, hits like Lilo & Stitch , The Lion King , Aladdin , and Beauty and the Beast have each grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. However, analysts believe the Moana live-action adaptation was produced too soon, failing to generate the nostalgia or excitement that fueled those earlier titles. The original film was released just a decade ago, and the 2024 animated sequel had already satisfied much of the fanbase. Second place this week went to Minions & Monsters , which earned $20.5 million domestically in its second week, bringing its global total to $280 million since its debut last week. The film is on track to turn a profit given its $85 million production budget. Not all the news was bad for Disney: Toy Story 5 , now in its fourth week, earned $18.5 million—enough to make it the third highest-grossing movie in the U.S. and keep the film on track to surpass $1 billion worldwide, which would make it the franchise’s highest-grossing entry. Read it at Variety Read more at The Daily Beast.