Catherine Laga’aia as Moana in Disney’s live-action ‘Moana’. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2026 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Preview:

• The live-action ‘Moana’ topped the box office this weekend.
• ‘Evil Dead Burn’ launched in second.
• ‘Minions & Monsters’ fell to third.

Moana herself may know the way, but it seems audiences didn’t have the same faith in the live-action take on her animated adventures. Despite plenty of hype, the 2026 incarnation of ‘Moana’ opened to a franchise low $43 million.

That’s a disappointment for Disney, which saw the original 2016 movie open to $56 million, while the sequel did even better with a Thanksgiving record $226 million.

“The ocean chose her for a reason.”

Release Date: Jul 10, 2026

Run Time: 1 hr 55 min

Budget: $250,000,000

Clearly fans were less willing to embrace a live-action story, especially one that mostly repeated the same beats but to lesser critical reaction. Globally, the movie is also not performing the way the studio might hope, launching to $95 million in total.

Related Article: ‘Minions & Monsters’ Underperforms But Still Rules at July 4 Box Office

Top Five Movies at the Box Office

Luciane Buchanan as Thya in New Line Cinema’s ‘Evil Dead Burn’, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2026 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved.

1. ‘Moana’ -$43 million
2. ‘Minions & Monsters’ -$20.5 million
3. ‘Toy Story 5’ -$18.5 million
4. ‘Evil Dead Burn’ -$13.7 million
5. ‘Young Washington’ -$6.44 million

What else happened at the box office this weekend?

(L to R): Ed, Henry and Goomi in Illumination’s ‘Minions & Monsters’. Photo: © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Last week’s champ, ‘Minions & Monsters,’ slipped to second on $20.5 million, while Disney can assuage its ‘Moana’ fears with the continued success of Pixar’s ‘Toy Story 5,’ with $18.5 million this weekend and $404.2 million after four weeks on release.

‘Evil Dead Burn,’ the latest offering spawned from Sam Raimi’s venerable horror franchise, took fourth place, earning $13.7 million. The Sébastien Vanicek-directed entry, opened below the previous movie, ‘Evil Dead Rise,’ but should still earn a profit given the low budget of these films.

Angel Studios’ ‘Young Washington’ cratered following its successful opening, losing 72% for a $6.44 million second weekend.

Finally, on much more limited release, Olivia Wilde’s drama ‘The Invite’ expanded to earn $5.7 million for sixth place.

List of Movies in the ‘Moana’ Franchise:

Buy Tickets: ‘Moana’ (2026) Showtimes

Buy ‘Moana’ Movies On Amazon