LISTEN: Why ‘Moana’ Marks a Disney Misstep; ‘Young Washington’ Director Jon Erwin on Making Indie Films Work at the Multiplexes
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- Disney's "Moana" live-action remake opened to $43 million domestically, weighed down by a $250 million production budget
- The "Moana" remake needs roughly $600 million globally to break even — a target Variety's Rebecca Rubin called "pretty unrealistic"
- The box office struggle traces to timing: Disney's animated "Moana 2" sequel hit theaters in 2024 and earned over $1 billion, less than two years before the remake
- By contrast, Disney's "Lilo and Stitch" remake last summer cost $100 million to produce and made $1 billion worldwide
- Jon Erwin co-founded Wonder Project in 2021 as a purpose-driven indie banner, and its "Young Washington" opened strongly over the weekend
- Erwin conceived "Young Washington" as a love letter to America for its 250th anniversary, born from his inability to land "Hamilton" tickets a decade ago
Why it matters: Disney's $250 million on "Moana" is a miscalculation only Variety bothered to size up — and the "Lilo and Stitch" comparison makes it sting: $1 billion on a $100 million budget. For Disney's live-action slate, the takeaway is that sequels and remakes on the same IP within two years blunt each other's box office economics.
