Dwayne Johnson speaks out on Moana's box office struggles and mixed reviews

Dubai: Disney's live-action Moana opened on 10 July and has taken around $266 million worldwide against a production budget of $250 million and an estimated $120 million in marketing.

Variety reports the film could lose at least $100 million over its theatrical run.

Dwayne Johnson, who plays Maui in live action after voicing him in the two animated films, has now spoken about it publicly for the first time.

What he said

Speaking to People, Johnson described watching the reception turn.

"Our first two reviews came out. I'll never forget it. They were amazing. I was like, wow," he said. "Then it went another way, as sometimes happens. That's just the way it goes because we're in this business."

He was candid about how much it occupied him at home. "My wife and I had a lot of these conversations at home, at the kitchen island late at night when the babies are asleep," he said. "The challenge was, OK, let's remember, though, what's going to be beyond this opening weekend. Let's remember what's happening right now and the noise that's happening right now."

"If you love it, great. If you don't, no problem."

Best part about Moana for Johnson

What really mattered, Johnson said, was that the culture really stood up, and that his children could watch a film like this and recognise themselves on a big screen for the first time.

Johnson is Samoan on his mother's side. Moana is set on the fictional island of Motunui and draws heavily on Polynesian culture, which, by his account, is why the film was made in the first place.

Whatever the numbers say, that is the argument he is making, and it is a different argument from the one the reviews are having.

The gap between critics and audiences

The film holds 31 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and 42 on Metacritic. The audience score is 88 per cent.

That is a 57-point split, which is unusual even for a Disney remake. Whatever the film is doing, the people paying for tickets and the people reviewing them are describing two different experiences.

The Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus is not gentle, calling it an underwhelming version that mainly proves the animated original was the better adventure.

Not everyone agreed. The Hollywood Reporter's chief film critic David Rooney called it one of Disney's better live-action remakes and described it as captivating family entertainment that deserves to find an audience. Owen Gleiberman argued it cannot and should not replace the original, but earns a place alongside it.

The numbers

Moana 2 came out in 2024 and took $1.06 billion, making it one of the biggest films of that year. The animated original took somewhere between $643 million and $687 million depending on whether you count re-releases.

So the live-action version follows a billion-dollar sequel by less than two years, and has grossed about a quarter of it.

There is a widespread view that Disney simply moved too fast, releasing a remake of a film audiences had watched recently and a sequel they had watched more recently still. Whether that is the explanation or not, it is the explanation most people have settled on.

Disney's response

New chief executive Josh D'Amaro addressed it at the company's earnings call on 5 August, and did not pretend otherwise.

"Even when our franchise films don't meet our box office expectations, as with The Mandalorian and Grogu and the live-action Moana, our investments in these core properties fuel other parts of our company," he said.

He also pointed towards streaming, noting Moana is expected to perform strongly on Disney+, building on the original, which remains one of the most streamed films ever made.

Moana 3

An animated Moana 3 is reportedly in development at Disney Animation.

A second live-action outing looks unlikely.