{"id":1035113,"date":"2026-06-18T18:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1035113\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T18:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:29:18","slug":"box-office-dwayne-johnson-live-action-moana-eyes-85m-u-s-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1035113\/","title":{"rendered":"Box Office: Dwayne Johnson Live-Action &#8216;Moana&#8217; Eyes $85M U.S. Start"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tDisney\u2019s live-action take of its 2016 animated hit <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/moana\/\" id=\"auto-tag_moana\" data-tag=\"moana\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Moana<\/a> is looking at an $85M North American opening when it bows on July 10, according to three-week pre-release tracking Thursday morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tDwayne Johnson returns in the flesh to play Maui, the demigod he portrayed as a cartoon. Catherine Laga\u2019aia takes over as Moana, that protag previously played by Auli\u2019i Cravalho in both Moana and Moana 2. Fosse\/Verdon director Thomas Kail is helming the live-action Moana.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tIf some are shocked by the lower forecast now on Moana, take note: Yes, there\u2019s the tried-and-true excuse that it\u2019s still early in the campaign, but also you have Toy Story 5 (<a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/06\/toy-story-5-box-office-preview-1236957843\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">$140M-$150M+ outlook this weekend<\/a>) and Illumination\/Universal\u2019s Minions &amp; Monsters eyeing at a bare minimum a $95M 5-day opening when it invades on Wednesday, July 1. In addition, that projection on Moana is on par with Uni\u2019s live-action take of DreamWorks Animation\u2019s How to Train Your Dragon, which began with $84.6M last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<strong>RELATED: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/gallery\/highest-grossing-animated-movies-all-time\/\" data-type=\"pmc-gallery\" data-id=\"1235984884\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>The 25 Highest-Grossing Animated Films Of All Time At The Global Box Office<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tBest first choice for Moana in general audiences with women over 25, above Mufasa: The Lion King ($35.4M in 2024) and How to Train Your Dragon but way behind Moana 2, which was an enormous Thanksgiving hit holding the 5-day record start of $225.4M back in 2024 ($139.7M 3-day). The original Moana in 2016 posted a 5-day opening over Thanksgiving of $82M ($56.5M 3-day). Moms and dads are even on taking their kids under 12 to see Moana, but again that\u2019s way behind versus Moana 2 when that hit tracking and ahead of Mufasa and How to Train Your Dragon. Girls under 12 have the best first choice with Moana, well behind Lilo &amp; Stitch and Moana 2 when they hit tracking but ahead of Mufasa and How to Train Your Dragon. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/06\/lin-manuel-miranda-new-song-live-action-moana-1236956764\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lin-Manuel Miranda Writes New Song For Live-Action \u2018Moana\u2019 With Dwayne Johnson, Auli\u2019i Cravalho &amp; Catherine Laga\u2019aia Singing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/03\/moana-dwayne-johnson-wig-maui-live-action-disney-remake-1236763544\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u2018Moana\u2019s Dwayne Johnson On Wig &amp; Prosthetics To Bring Maui To Life In Live-Action Remake<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Disney\u2019s live-action take of its 2016 animated hit Moana is looking at an $85M North American opening when&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1035114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3935],"tags":[77,115652,3943,16,15],"class_list":["post-1035113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-moana","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116772534118238652","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1035113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1035114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1035113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1035113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1035113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}