Disney faced a good news, bad news scenario this weekend. The good news: Its live-action remake of Moana earned a box-office win, more than doubling the earnings of its nearest competitor. The bad news: Moana’s $43 million estimated take in North America—and its worldwide gross of $95 million—actually looks pretty paltry, considering how much Disney spent to make the thing.
How much did Disney spend on the new Moana, you ask? About $250 million, according to experts, not counting marketing costs. That means that while Moana did reach the box office’s island mountaintop, that mountain is showering the film with lava. At this point, Moana looks as though it might come to an ignominious end.
Perhaps it was predictable. The original Moana, after all, is only a decade old, and the animated version has aged just fine. Better than fine, really: After a strong, but not staggering, theatrical run, the film became a bona fide phenomenon on Disney+. It was the most-streamed movie across all streaming platforms between 2020 and 2025 (according to Nielsen).
So what’s the benefit of shelling out oodles of cash to see a live-action version? Especially one that, according to our own Emily Tsiao, is practically a shot-for-shot retelling of the original?
That’s certainly the question audiences themselves may be asking. Still, the new Moana may find wind to fill its financial sails yet.
Minions & Monsters fell to second place, scraping up another $20.5 million in domestic box-office receipts. That pushes the film’s North American gross to $108.3 million and its worldwide take to $280 million. (Enough to buy 1.4 billion bananas, in case you’re curious.)
Toy Story 5 sidled into third place with $18.5 million, suggesting that its fans haven’t gotten tired of this screen-based cautionary tale about screens. Toy Story 5 has now earned $403.8 million in North America—just $26 million behind 2026’s biggest hit thus far, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. And worldwide, the Toy Story sequel is inching closer to the $1 billion mark, having earned $879.1 million.
Oh, one other note: This weekend, the top three movies were all rated PG, which is kinda nice to see.
Evil Dead Burn torched the weekend’s family-friendly box-office run. The R-rated horror flick earned an estimated $13.7 million stateside to land in fourth place. That’s well off the pace set by its most immediate predecessors: The 2013 Evil Dead reboot earned $25.8 million in its debut weekend, while Evil Dead Rise earned $24.5 million in its opening weekend in 2023. Still, horror movies are notoriously cheap to make, so Evil Dead Burn may still make money.
Young Washington closed out the top five with a $6.4 million weekend. The historical biopic has earned a total of $33.1 million in North America—and it apparently hasn’t been released internationally yet, including merry old England. Clearly, the British are not coming. The British are not coming.
Well down the list, we find other newcomer Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass at No. 11. It earned less than $1 million in its opening frame. Despite the old adage, apparently sex doesn’t always sell.
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