Disney president Dana Walden explains the failure of the live-action “Moana”: the blame lies with “Moana 2” and “unusual circumstances”

Dana Walden, president and chief creative officer of the Walt Disney Company, has spoken publicly for the first time about the major box-office failure of the live-action “Moana” film, as ComingSoon reports, referring to her conversation at the Bloomberg Screentime conference, held on Thursday in Los Angeles.

Walden defended the film as “excellent,” but acknowledged that it was hurt by its proximity in time to “Moana 2,” the animated sequel released in November 2024 — only about 18 months before the July 2026 live-action version. “It is so competitive now that you have to have the right film at the right time, with an audience that feels some demand,” she said. “I would say our live-action ‘Moana,’ which is excellent, I think was hurt by its proximity to our second animated ‘Moana,’ which was made in unusual circumstances but came out about 18 months before this one. Perhaps there was not enough time to build strong demand for another film.”

By “unusual circumstances,” Walden was referring to Disney’s late decision to turn “Moana 2” from a series planned for Disney+ into a theatrical film — a move that placed the animated sequel on the company’s calendar much earlier than originally envisaged, taking away the space the live-action version needed to build audience anticipation.

As ComingSoon writes, the studio had projected an opening of around $85 million for the live-action film with Dwayne Johnson, while it opened with around $18 million — making it one of the biggest box-office failures of 2026, as we have also reported before.

In the same conversation with the Bloomberg journalist, Walden also touched on other hot topics for the company, including the future of the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show on ABC and this year’s wave of layoffs.