Released July 17, 2026, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has seized the majority of premium screens and audience share, leaving Disney’s Moana remake with little room to rebound. The Universal tentpole is outperforming across formats, effectively eliminating Moana’s path to profitability.
There isn’t just one reason for Moana’s flop this weekend. Besides the competition from The Odyssey, the film was also affected by fewer IMAX showings, massive audience defections due to negative reviews, and underwhelming preview results.
Despite both films carrying a $250 million budget, their box office performances have been very different. Disney’s Moana earned just $4m in previews, while The Odyssey delivered a strong $15m preview haul. For comparison, this year’s $1 billion blockbuster Michael opened with $12.6 million in previews.
Disney’s musical adventure Moana is struggling with a $43.1M domestic opening and faces a projected $100–125M loss, cementing its status as a box office bomb. In stark contrast, Universal’s The Odyssey is tracking as a major blockbuster, eyeing an $85–100M domestic debut and a $200M+ global launch.
Seizing the IMAX throne
Although both films were released in IMAX, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey was shot entirely using new IMAX film technology. As a result, its IMAX 70mm screenings sold out nearly a year in advance. With far fewer premium screens available, Moana is missing out on the elevated revenue streams tied to large‑format ticket sales.
Critical showdown: Odyssey vs. Moana
Since its release on July 10, 2026, Disney’s Moana has struggled with critics, earning just a 32% critics’ score, while receiving a much stronger 89% audience score. The film also holds a 5.7/10 IMDb rating. Many critics described it as a “colorless cash grab,” a negative reception that hurt its box-office momentum. In contrast, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has become a critical and audience favorite, boasting an outstanding 96% critics’ score based on 278 reviews and a 96% audience score.
These are the highest Rotten Tomatoes ratings of Nolan’s career, surpassing the 94% audience scores for Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Memento, as well as the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer, which holds a 91% audience score.
Second‑Weekend Slide
Moana’s second weekend looks rough—analysts say it could drop over 55%, fighting for leftovers against Toy Story 5 and Minions & Monsters. Meanwhile, The Odyssey keeps cruising at the top of the box office.
Director Thomas Kail makes his feature film debut with Disney’s live-action Moana, ushering in the franchise’s third chapter—a film that is already being remembered as much for its critical backlash and box office turbulence as for its storytelling.
