Disney's $250 million Moana remake opens with a splash that wasn't enough

Disney spent $250 million, cast Dwayne Johnson, and stuck Moana back in theaters, and it still opened barely above Snow White, which we all agreed was Disney's biggest live-action disaster ever. So let's talk about how this actually happened. Moana's live-action remake pulled in only $43 million domestically, adding just $52 million overseas for a rough $95 million global debut. That's roughly 35% below Disney's own internal projections, which were sitting comfortably around $60 to $65 million. For context, the animated original made $680 million lifetime, and Moana 2 became a full-blown billion-dollar phenomenon less than two years ago, so this remake should have had built-in momentum, not a stumble. Here's the real problem, though. Timing completely backfired. Disney waited a decade after the original, but only two years after Moana 2, meaning audiences never got the nostalgia gap that made hits like Aladdin and The Lion King work so well. Critics also destroyed it, giving it a brutal 34% on Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest score of any direct live-action Disney remake, even worse than Snow White. Reviewers called it basically a shot-for-shot copy of the animated version. And honestly, why pay theater prices for something you can already stream at home for free? Audiences who did show up actually loved it, though, giving it a solid A-minus cinema score. Moving the movie itself isn't a disaster, the strategy around releasing it definitely is. With a $250 million budget, Disney needs roughly $625 million just to break even, and current projections suggest the studio could lose somewhere between $100 and $125 million total. This also marks Disney's third box office disappointment this summer alone, following Supergirl and Minions and Monsters, all while Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is about to steamroll every premium theater screen nationwide starting Thursday. Disney's live-action remake machine finally hit a wall, and the timing couldn't be more brutal. Do you think Disney should slow down on these remakes? Tell us below.