‘Moana’ live-action in choppy waters with lukewarm box office opening
Disney‘s live-action Moana is off to a decent, if disappointing, start at the box office, looking at an underwhelming opening in the $42-46million range.
On its opening day, which coincided with the 10th anniversary of the franchise and the release of the original film, the movie pulled in $18m.
As such, overall estimates chart up to around the $42-46m range for its domestic opening weekend, as per Deadline.
While this might seem like a well-deserved total, projections from only a week ago were putting the aquatic adventure movie in the realm of at least $60m, while original tracking had reached for at least $80m.
The new film marked the quickest release of a live-action recreation of any of Disney’s films, after the original animation was released less than ten years ago, back in 2016.
One of the biggest drawing factors to the cinema is Dwayne Johnson’s character, Maui, the legendary demigod and culture hero in Polynesian mythology, whom he voiced in the original.
However, Disney had originally planned to use a deepfake version, using artificial intelligence, of Johnson’s character. The company had initially planned to digitally scan the actor’s body and use a stunt double to capture certain shots.
Breakout star Catherine Laga’aia takes on the titular character’s likeness, who was originally voiced by Auli’i Cravalho.
Upon the release of the first trailer, Laga’aia gushed about the role, sharing, “I’m honoured to have an opportunity to celebrate Samoa and all Pacific Island peoples, and to represent young girls who look like me.”
Elsewhere at the box office, Minions and Monsters is headed for a $21m take in its second weekend, while Toy Story 5 is headed for a $19m haul in its fourth weekend. Fourth in the listing is the horror picture Evil Dead Burn, which is heading for a $15m opening.
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