Moana 2was one of the biggest movies of last year, coming in just underDeadpool & WolverineandInside Out 2to become one of thehighest-grossing movies of 2024.Moana 2was the sequel to Disney’s 2016 animated featureMoana.AlthoughMoana 2’s reviewswere mixed compared to its predecessor’s, the sequel nearly doubled the earnings of the original, ensuring that theMoanafranchise will continue for many years to come.
WhileMoana 3is likely years away, the upcoming live-action remake of the originalMoanais set to release in 2026, 10 years after the first film won over audiences. The live-actionMoanaalready announced its cast and release date, andDisney is clearly hoping to ride the wave of success thatMoana 2found.Moana 2could very well bring Disney’s live-action remakes the most success they’ve seen in years.
Moana 2’s $1 Billion Box Office Shows The Franchise’s Increasing Fandom
Moana 2 Proved The Huge Strength Of The Franchise
The biggest point in thelive-actionMoana’s favoris just how much better the sequel did compared to the original movie.Moanawas released in 2016, during a time when Disney could reliably count on the majority of their movies to be big successes, simply based on the name alone.Nowadays, the company is on much shakier ground, with Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, and even the once unstoppable Marvel Cinematic Universe putting out movies that could only be described as huge flops.
Moana 2 Sets A New Disney+ Viewership Record Only 5 Days After Its Streaming Debut
After shattering numerous box office records, Moana 2 is now breaking streaming viewership records following the movie’s Disney+ debut.
However,Moana 2suffered no such fate, earning over a billion dollars for the company, despite the fact thatMoana 2was originally meant to be a Disney+ showthat was cut up and retooled into a feature-length film. Compared toMoana’s $643 million,Moana 2’s $1.059-billion grossblew expectations out of the water, showing that, despite Disney’s recent missteps, theMoanafranchise has and will likely continue to grow as more projects get added to the series.
Moana’s Live-Action Remake Is Well Positioned To Dominate The Box Office Next Year
The Movie Will Likely Do Extremely Well When It Releases
With the growing popularity of theMoanafranchise, the 2026 live-action remake is beginning to look like another slam dunk for Disney, and could very well climb even higher thanMoana 2. Although Disney’s live-actionSnow Whiteremake is looking to be a significant miss despite agreat central performance by Rachel Zegler,Lilo & Stitchhas been getting a lot of attention with its recent trailer. Meanwhile,Moanais even fresher in people’s minds because ofMoana 2’s success next year.
Now thatMoanahas proven its strength as a franchise as opposed to a single movie, it seems almost guaranteed to make a ton of money.
Disney’s live-action remakes are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the box office, even if some of them don’t do as well as others. Now thatMoanahas proven its strength as a franchiseas opposed to a single movie,it seems almost guaranteed to make a ton of money. While Dwayne Johnson isn’t a guaranteed box office hit anymore, his name still carries a lot of weight, and the fact that he is so heavily connected to this project is an even better sign for the remake’s box office.
I Think Moana Will Become Disney’s Highest Grossing Live-Action Remake
The Upcoming Remake Has The Chance To Become The Biggest
Moanais well-positioned to become Disney’s highest-grossing live-action remake, a title currently held by 2019’sThe Lion King, one of their first forays into remake territory, which remains their most successful attempt. That film’s success was based on a number of factors, including thatThe Lion Kingis perhapsDisney’s most iconic original propertyof all time, as well as the fact that it came out before the market had become inundated with live-action remakes of animated classics.
$1,656,943,394
Beauty and the Beast
$1,263,521,126
$1,050,693,953
$1,025,467,110
The Jungle Book
$966,550,600
WhileThe Lion King’s $1.6 billion haul is a very steep ask,Moana 2quickly earned $400 million more than its predecessor, a huge jump for a franchise that was already a big success. WhileDisney’s live-action remakes can be a gamble, more often than not, they pay off, generally scaling with the popularity of the franchise they are based on. Now thatMoana’s franchise has proven just how enormous it is, the live-action film could easily overtakeMoana 2by a wide margin and take overThe Lion King’s crown.
