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Disney president Dana Walden has blamed “unusual circumstances” for the live-action Moana movie’s disappointing box office, and defended the project as an otherwise “excellent film.”
Speaking this week at the Bloomberg Screentime event (via Variety), Walden framed Moana’s poor performance as a result of the movie industry being competitive, and the film simply launching at the wrong time.
“It’s so competitive right now that you have to have… the right film at the right time, with audiences feeling a certain degree of demand,” Walden stated. “I would say our live-action Moana, which is excellent, I think it was hurt by the proximity to our second animated version of Moana, which came together under unusual circumstances, but premiered about 18 months before this one.”
The unusual circumstances Walden is referring to here relate to Disney’s relatively last-minute pivot that saw Moana 2 change from launching as a Disney+ series to a theatrical movie. This resulted in the project being slotted into Disney’s film schedule awkwardly just a year and a half before the long-gestating plans for a live-action film.
“Perhaps there was not enough time to create a lot of pent-up demand for another film,” Walden concluded.
While most would agree the timing was indeed awkward, it’s fair to point out that this issue is one entirely of Disney’s own making. (Perhaps the live-action movie would have performed better if it was held back until a year later, with Moana 2 more of a distant meory?)
But then there’s also the matter of the movie’s quality. While Walden is unlikely to say anything other than the film being great, the majority of critics disagreed. Moana sits with a 33% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 4.8/10. Pre-release, the film’s trailers were also subject to audience criticism over the movie’s CGI backgrounds and a slew of memes over Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s luscious wig.
“Dwayne Johnson returns as Maui opposite newcomer Catherine Laga’aia in this frame-by-frame retelling of the Disney animated musical that doesn’t do enough to justify being made,” IGN wrote in our live-action Moana review, awarding the movie a 6/10.
While the Moana franchise will continue with a third animated film following the breakout success of Moana 2, there’s no word of a live-action sequel being made. You’re welcome, indeed.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
