A $250 million production budget. Another $120 million in marketing. A 35% positive review rating. Industry analysts are now projecting Disney's live-action Moana remake will lose at least $100 million.
The original animated Moana came out ten years ago. Disney's creative brain trust looked at the calendar, looked at their empty idea drawer, and decided the best use of $370 million was a near shot-by-shot remake starring Dwayne Johnson, who was in the original as well.
Industry analysts had already downgraded their opening weekend projections multiple times before the film even hit theaters. The reviews confirmed what the tracking suggested: audiences weren't interested in the live-action remake.
This isn't even Disney's worst remake disaster in the past two years. Snow White, released in 2025, managed just $205 million worldwide against a budget exceeding $400 million — a loss of at least $170 million. That one came loaded with bad publicity, wokeness, and a leading lady who wouldn't stop badmouthing the storyline.
Meanwhile, Disney has already announced Moana III — the animated version — is in development. So we're getting a third animated Moana while the live-action remake of the first one is still bleeding red ink in theaters. The company is now competing with itself across formats, remaking films that already have sequels, and losing nine figures in the process.
The entertainment conglomerate that once defined American storytelling has become a $370 million photocopier. And the copies keep getting worse.
At some point, the shareholders are going to notice that the machine eats more than it produces. At some point, $100 million here and $170 million there starts to add up to real money — even for Disney.