Box Office: ‘Moana’ Sets Sail With $4.5 Million in Thursday Previews
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- Moana (live-action remake) earned $4.5 million in Thursday previews as it heads into its domestic opening weekend.
- Disney's new take on the animated film is estimated to open between $60-65 million domestically this weekend, with softer projections around $40 million, against a $250 million production budget plus global marketing costs.
- International box office is expected to add another $70-75 million to the film's worldwide haul.
- Catherine Laga'aia stars as Moana in the new take, with Dwayne Johnson reprising his role as the demigod Maui from the 2016 animated original.
- Moana's $4.5 million preview haul is comparable to Lightyear ($5.2M previews → $50.6M debut) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ($4.7M previews → $45M launch), both of which debuted to soft results.
- The live-action remake launches just two years after Moana 2 became a billion-dollar blockbuster, opening to $225 million over Thanksgiving.
- Evil Dead Burn, the sixth entry in Warner Bros.' horror franchise, also opens this weekend with $15-20 million projections on a $20 million budget after scoring $2.3 million in previews.
Why it matters: The live-action 'Moana' enters its opening weekend with a $4.5 million preview haul that signals a $60-65 million domestic debut against a $250 million production budget — a break-even math that becomes nearly impossible if actuals land at the softer $40 million end of projections. International returns, projected at $70-75 million, become critical to recouping costs, while Disney's live-action remake strategy faces its third underperformer after 'Dumbo' ($45M) and 'Snow White' ($42M).
