Disney’s Live-Action Moana and Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu ‘Underperformed’ at the Box Office

According to Disney’s latest financial results, the live-action adaptations of Moana and Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu have both underperformed at the box office. However, the company is keen to emphasize that ticket sales are only one metric to measure the success of these movies.

Moana, which was released in 2022, has currently garnered a box office revenue of $263 million against a budget of $250 million. This means that the film will not turn a profit, factoring in additional marketing costs. The sentiment towards the film was not positive ahead of its release, with many fans questioning the need for a live-action adaptation of the beloved animated classic. Some fans even created memes featuring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s iconic wig from the film.

The Mandalorian and Grogu, on the other hand, finished its theatrical run with a box office revenue of $345 million against a budget of $165 million. While this is a better profit margin than Moana, it is still the lowest box office for any live-action Star Wars film, even lower than Solo.

Despite the underwhelming box office performance, Disney is optimistic about the future of these franchises. In its financial earnings report, the company stated that the live-action adaptations of Moana and The Mandalorian and Grogu have contributed to value creation beyond their theatrical releases. Specifically, The Mandalorian and Grogu ‘drove healthy growth in retail sales for the Star Wars franchise during the quarter.’

Disney also highlighted the success of the original Moana film, which is one of the most streamed movies of all time. The company expects the live-action adaptation to be a strong title on Disney+ and to build on the success of the original film. Furthermore, the live-action Moana will extend the reach of the franchise, which now includes three films, a themed area at EPCOT, and a robust global merchandise business.

However, despite this positive spin, the chances of a live-action Moana 2 seem slim to none. As for The Mandalorian and Grogu, there is no word yet on when or where these characters might appear again. The upcoming Disney+ series Ahsoka is expected to lay the final pieces of groundwork for an Heir to the Empire project featuring Thrawn, but the long-promised team-up project featuring The Mandalorian and Grogu remains uncertain.

Elsewhere, Disney celebrated the $1 billion box office success of Toy Story 5 and stated that The Devil Wears Prada 2 had also performed well, particularly internationally. The company also announced a new initiative to fill Disney+ with user-made TikTok content, which seems to replace the earlier plans to flood the streaming platform with AI-generated slop videos made using Sora.