Disney’s live-action Moana opens soft this weekend: tracking slips

Disney’s live-action Moana hits theaters this weekend, and the domestic box office picture has cooled. Tracking is now in the $40 million to $46 million range, well below the early $60 million to $65 million forecasts. Thursday previews brought in $4.5 million and, for a moment, hinted at a stronger start. Now the movie looks like it could open a little too close to Disney’s Snow White, which debuted at about $43 million in March, quickly turned into a shorthand for Disney’s shakier remake streak, and finished with only $205.7 million worldwide.

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That’s a soft start for a movie built on one of Disney’s biggest animated hits of the past decade, especially when Moana 2 arrived less than two years ago. A lot of moviegoers seem to feel the same thing: this live-action version may have shown up too soon, just 10 years after the original animated Moana. If you keep an eye on Disney’s remake playbook, this one matters. Moana reportedly cost around $250 million, which means Disney’s live-action Moana will need strong legs and a big international run. Negative reviews haven’t helped. Neither has the low Rotten Tomatoes score, or the broader complaint that the remake feels unnecessary, sticks too closely to the animated film, and misses the first movie’s sense of discovery.

The film stars Catherine Laga’aia. Dwayne Johnson returns as Maui and also serves as a producer, and he’s defended the remake as a way to celebrate Polynesian culture for a new audience. Disney’s live-action Moana opens in theaters this weekend.