{"id":757106,"date":"2026-07-11T17:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T17:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/757106\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T17:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T17:50:08","slug":"box-office-moana-makes-18-million-on-opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/757106\/","title":{"rendered":"Box Office: ‘Moana’ Makes $18 Million on Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAlthough \u201cMoana<\/a>\u201d led the box office on Friday, the live-action remake didn\u2019t make the domestic splash Disney was probably hoping for.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMoana\u201d made just $18 million on Friday from 3,875 North American theaters. Rival estimates have it grossing $45 million through opening weekend, which is below the $56 million the original \u201cMoana\u201d earned over its debut in 2016. Disney shelled out $250 million for the live-action reprise, up from the $175 million spent on its animated older sibling, meaning \u201cMoana\u201d needs to stick around in theaters for a while to justify costs.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney bet big on the live-action \u201cMoana,\u201d and for good reason. Both in home entertainment and at the box office, \u201cMoana\u201d has been one of Disney\u2019s most popular franchises. The first film, which made $642 million by the end of its run, is one of the most-watched titles ever on Disney+. \u201cMoana 2,\u201d which was retooled from a scrapped made-for-streaming \u201cMoana\u201d TV show, set a Thanksgiving weekend record with a $225 million debut. It went on to do just over $1 billion worldwide.<\/p>\n

\n\tPulling off a successful live-action remake has been a tightrope walk for the Mouse House in recent years. While films like 2016\u2019s \u201cJungle Book\u201d ($967 million worldwide), 2017\u2019s \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d ($1.26 billion worldwide) and 2019\u2019s \u201cThe Lion King\u201d ($1.6 billion worldwide) were all major earners, more recent fare like 2023\u2019s \u201cThe Little Mermaid\u201d ($569 million worldwide) and 2025\u2019s \u201cSnow White\u201d ($205 million worldwide), did not drum up enough buisness to justify costs. The live-action \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d managed to gross $1 billion following its May 2025 release, but that success now seems like an outlier. The dwindling gains are most likely due to audience fatigue with IP and remakes, and these Disney offerings are a cocktail of both.<\/p>\n

\n\tLike the 2016 original, the new \u201cMoana\u201d follows a young Polynesian girl who leaves her home island for the first time to stop the spread of an ancient curse. Dwayne Johnson returns to reprise his role as the demigod Maui. Catherine Laga\u2019aia stars alongside him in the titular role. Other cast members include John Tui, Frankie Adams, Rena Owen and Jemaine Clement. Thomas Kail, who helmed the theatrical release of \u201cHamilton\u201d for Disney, directed the live-action \u201cMoana.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFriday brought two other major newcomers to the box office: \u201cEvil Dead Burn\u201d and \u201cThe Invite.\u201d \u201cEvil Dead Burn\u201d took second with $6.7 million from 3,004 domestic screens. Through Sunday, it should scare up an estimated $15 million, which is down from the $25 million debut of its predecessor, 2023\u2019s \u201cEvil Dead Rise.\u201d That film went on to gross $147 million worldwide. Luckily for Warner Bros., the \u201cEvil Dead\u201d movies are made very cheaply, so it won\u2019t take much to get \u201cBurn\u201d out of the red.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEvil Dead Burn\u201d follows a recent widow who moves in with her in-laws, only to have them all turn into deadites. Cast members include Souheila Yacoub, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Erroll Shand, Greta van den Brink and Tandi Wright. S\u00e9bastien Vanicek directs and co-wrote the script with Florent Bernard and \u201cEvil Dead\u201d mastermind Sam Raimi.<\/p>\n

\n\tA24\u2019s \u201cThe Invite\u201d landed in fifth place with $2.4 million domestically on Friday in its first weekend of wide release. It\u2019s a promising launch, considering A24 spent only $12 million on the film following its premiere at Sundance. Directed by and starring Olivia Wilde, \u201cThe Invite\u201d follows a couple on the brink of divorce who invite their free-spirited upstairs neighbors for a dinner party. Other cast members include Seth Rogen, Pen\u00e9lope Cruz and Edward Norton.<\/p>\n

\n\tThird place on Friday went to \u201cMinions & Monsters,\u201d which added $6.5 million as it heads into its second weekend in North American theaters. By Sunday, it should gross $21 million, which represents a 43% decline from its $61 million debut. The domestic total is expected to reach $108 by the end of the weekend.<\/p>\n

\n\tFinally, \u201cToy Story 5<\/a>\u201d landed at No. 4 with $5.7 million. It should pull in around $18 million by Sunday, pushing its domestic total to $403 million through four weekends of release. It\u2019s only a matter of time before \u201cToy Story 5\u201d crosses the coveted $1 billion mark and overtakes \u201cToy Story 4\u201d ($1.07 billion) as the highest-grossing film in the franchise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although \u201cMoana\u201d led the box office on Friday, the live-action remake didn\u2019t make the domestic splash Disney was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,44069,206,79349],"class_list":["post-757106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-moana","tag-movies","tag-toy-story-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}