Hello! Welcome to TheBox Office Report for the weekend of July 10-12, 2026.
1. Live-action Moana remake
Weekend gross: $43M Total domestic gross: $43M Last weekend: New release Percent drop: NA
I told you in 2023. I told you in 2024. And I told you in 2026. The live-action Moana remake was always a bad idea. And now the film, loaded down with a reported $250 million budget, has hit a box office reef and sunk with a dismal $43 million opening weekend.
To put in context how dreadful the live-action Moana remake’s debut is, it barely squeaked by Snow White’s $42.2 million opening weekend. And that could still change when actual numbers come in on Monday. It’s worse than the $46 million that Tim Burton’s Dumbo remake grossed its first weekend.
The live-action Moana remake is in a league of its own when it comes to how a remake of a modern Disney film — anything from the first Disney Renaissance that started in the late 1980s to today — performed against its predecessor. This is the first time a remake of one of the modern animated films had an opening weekend that was less than the opening weekend of the original film.
Even taking inflation into account, it’s not even close.
The original Moana opened with a three-day gross of $56.6 million and a five-day gross of $82.1 million. The live-action remake’s $43 million couldn’t even touch that box office haul.
And it’s way, way behind the remakes of The Lion King ($191.8 million), Beauty and the Beast ($174.8 million), Lilo & Stitch ($146 million), The Little Mermaid ($95.6 million) and Aladdin ($91.5 million).
Maybe there was a time in the future when a remake of Moana would’ve made sense. (Definitely not while there’s an open-ended animated series of Moana movies in existence.) A lot is going to be written about the failure of the live-action Moana remake — and I imagine a bunch of fingers are going to point back to Dwayne Johnson.
“To be honest with you, I never bought into this idea [of], ‘You have to wait 20 years. You have to wait 30 years. It’s too soon,’” Johnson recently told The Hollywood Reporter.
Despite the studio sabotaging the franchise, there’s a way for Disney to turn the Moana ship around and salvage its future. Bring back the original film’s creative team, directors John Musker and Ron Clements and screenwriter Jared Bush; task Lin-Manuel Miranda and Opetaia Foaʻi with writing a wave of timeless new songs; and tell Johnson that, while he’s an integral part of Moana 3’s cast, his production company has nothing to do with it.
Moana 2 grossed $1.059 billion just two years ago. Imagine how far the franchise could go now that it can finally shed the weight of the live-action remake.
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2. Minions & Monsters
Weekend gross: $20.5M Total domestic gross: $108.3M Last weekend: 1st Percent drop: 45
While the live-action Moana remake barely convinced families to pay good money to see it, Minions & Monsters saw a respectable 45 percent drop from its first weekend, adding $20.5 million to take its domestic total past the $100 million mark.
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Weekend gross: $18.5M Total domestic gross: $403.8M Last weekend: 2nd Percent drop: 39
Toy Story 5 wasn’t far behind Minions & Monsters. Its strong $18.5 million fourth weekend brought the latest Pixar film into the $400 million range, becoming the studio’s sixth film to notch that accomplishment. As Toy Story 5 sets its sights on passing Toy Story 3 ($415 million) and Toy Story 4 ($434 million), I don’t think the animated film will have to worry about new competition from The Odyssey next weekend.
4. Evil Dead Burn
Weekend gross: $13.7M Total domestic gross: $13.7M Last weekend: New release Percent drop: NA
Had Evil Dead Burn matched the $25.5 million opening weekend of its predecessor, Evil Dead Rise, the franchise’s latest film would’ve found itself pretty safely at No. 2. Instead, Evil Dead Burn could only scare up an opening weekend that was a touch more than half of what Evil Dead Rise debuted with in 2023.
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Supergirl: With an estimated $3.6 million third weekend taking Supergirl to $66 million domestic, it looks like the second film in the DCU won’t have the power to fly past $100 million.
Box office numbers via The Numbers and Box Office Mojo based on Sunday estimates.
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Issue No. 469
Popculturology is written and produced by Bill Kuchman. Copyediting by Tim Kuchman.
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The Omnicosm founder. Snackology, Popculturology and The Cold Open writer. A Rochester, N.Y., native now living in the Washington, D.C., area. Won’t pass up a Genny Cream Ale.
The live-action remake is a critical disaster and on track to be a box office disappointment. PLUS: New trailers for ‘Dune: Part Three’ and ‘Godzilla Minus Zero,’ the ‘Supergirl’ bakeoff, and they’re rebooting ‘Free Willy.’
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