With talk of a third Moana animated film, the franchise has the unique distinction of being a movie property that has a live-action remake released smack-dab right in the middle of its original continuing series. Regardless, it’s a successful franchise and Disney will capitalize on it. The new film opens this weekend and despite an estimated $250 million budget and the star power of Dwayne Johnson, Moana is tracking for an opening weekend of roughly $45 million. So, how is it faring so far with it’s early screenings?
Early Thursday Box Office
Deadline is reporting that the Hawaiian sea adventure is starting its run with $4.5 million in early Thursday totals. Showings began in the afternoon, starting at 2 PM. The audience reaction has not yet been set, but its aggregate rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes is not inspiring confidence for this entry, with a 36% rating. The consensus is that interest in Disney live-action remakes that basically adapt the story beat-by-beat is fading considerably. Couple that with the timing of this film being just two years after Moana 2 was released, and audiences may be showing Hollywood now more than ever that they are thirsting for less of the same. This looks especially true after the successes of Obsession and Backrooms.
Evil Dead Burn is looking at about $2.3 million, which is about $200k off from Evil Dead Rise‘s preview night three years ago. That seems to suggest our prediction that it would hit the $25 million mark is maybe a touch generous, with $20 million seeming more likely – but we’ll see.
What did we think of Moana?
Our Chris Bumbray found the new Moana to be a curious waste of time as it hardly brought anything fresh to the table and was basically a 1:1 remake. He would give the film a dismal 4/10 rating and say in his review, “The animated original was eye-popping at times, but this has that same flat, digital look that has marred every Disney movie for the last decade or so. It’s shot by Óscar Faura, who is J. A. Bayona’s go-to cinematographer, but there aren’t any truly memorable shots, with this looking like a movie that was shot with an eye on streaming.
Even if you have kids who want a day out at the movies, I’d wager you could do better than this Moana remake simply by throwing the original on—or even taking them to see something else. When the seventh Minions movie seems many times more original by comparison, something’s gone awry. This may prove to be a costly flop for all involved.”
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