Disney’s live-action Moana made $4.5 million in previews from Thursday showtimes that began 2 p.m.
No audience score yet, but critics have walloped this live-action version directed by Thomas Kail with Maui’s hook at 35% on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s lower than the live-action version of Snow White (39%) starring Rachel Zegler, Will Smith’s Aladdin (57%) and Dumbo (46%).
Previews here for Moana are higher than Snow White ($3.5M, $42.2M opening) and Dumbo ($2.6M, $45.99M opening), but lower than Little Mermaid ($10.3M previews, $95.5M 3-day opening) and Aladdin ($7M previews, $91.5M 3-day opening). They’re also well below the Tuesday previews before Thanksgiving of Moana 2 ($13.8M, $139.7M 3-day).
Here’s the thing: Earlier this week we heard that Moana was hoping for a low-$60M start, but exhibitors pushed that down to a high-$40Ms projection. Presales heading into the weekend were at $4M. Yikes. Success with the latest Dwayne Johnson movie relies on walk-up business Saturday, and the fear is that the family space is crowded with the mega success of Toy Story 5 and the recent lackluster release of Minions & Monsters, not to mention it’s too much Moana, too soon, this version arriving less than two years from the box office tsunami that was the animated Moana 2.
We have confirmed that the live-action Moana cost $250M before global P&A, which is higher than the $200M price tag of Johnson/Seven Bucks’ Amazon MGM Studios’ production Red One and even the Rock’s Red Notice.
If Moana comes in well under its $60M+ domestic forecast, the hope is that midweek business makes up for the shortfall as the feature will remain the only fresh family title during the onslaught of Universal’s The Odyssey and Sony/Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and before Paramount lets PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie off its collar August 14.
Luciane Buchanan in ‘Evil Dead Burn‘
Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Separately, New Line’s Sam Raimi-produced Evil Dead Burn did $2.3M in previews, which is $200,000 shy of previous installment Evil Dead Rise‘s $2.5M. That number translated into a $23.5M opening for the 2023 movie from Lee Cronin, which was 85% certified fresh with critics. Evil Dead Burn from Sébastien Vanicek stands at 72% certified fresh with critics. No audience score yet.
Minions & Monsters counts a nine-day total of $87.7M after launching on Wednesday, July 1, that total running 47% behind Despicable Me 4 (another Wednesday opener) over the same period. The latter Illumination/Universal title ended its run at $361M stateside.
The rest of the week is as follows at the B.O.:
2. Toy Story 5 (Dis) 3,965 theaters, Wk $49.8M (-54%), Total $385.2M/Wk 3
3. Young Washington (ANG) 2,725 theaters, Wk $26.6M/Wk 1
4. Supergirl (WB) 3,602 theaters, Wk $13.5M (-72%), Total $62.M/Wk 2
5. Obsession (Foc) 2,650 theaters, Wk $9.4M (-41%), Total $249.5M/Wk 8
