Maybe this will be the end of remaking cartoons into live action movies.
“Moana” was a great animated film in 2016. It won awards, people loved it.
But Disney had to make a live action version because that’s been their plan now for years. Most of the reboots have not been warmly welcomed. That didn’t stop them.
So here is “Moana,” with people like Dwayne The Rock Johnson. And it’s sunk like a rock to the bottom of the ocean. Total first weekend in the US: $43 million. On a $200 million-plus budget, maybe as high as $250 million.
The story isn’t good because each day this weekend, “Moana” fell more and more. Friday was $18 million, Saturday was $13.5 million, today is $11.5 million. Which means the audience didn’t like it very much.
And that’s a surprise since the audience meter at Rotten Tomatoes is 90% and Cinemascore gave it an A minus. But in reality, actual people who saw “Moana” didn’t come back or recommend it to their friends.
Of course, critics scorched it with 34%, a real low for Disney’s remakes.
The only bright side was $52 million from other countries, but even that won’t save it.
For Disney, not even the huge success of “Toy Story 5” will offset this extreme disappointment.
PS The movie’s lack of interest is reflected also in the soundtrack from “Hamilton” great Lin Manuel Miranda. It’s number 26 on iTunes, with no big song emerging from it.
