Disney’s Polarizing Live-Action Remake Instantly Redeems Itself As A Streaming Sensation

Published Oct 25, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

Nick Bythrow is a Lead Writer for ScreenRant. He has been writing for the site since September 2022. He graduated from Hampshire College in 2022, where he triple majored in Journalism, Communications, and Media Studies. When he's not writing about TV and movies for ScreenRant and his blog, Frayed Branches, Nick is penning speculative fiction and poetry on Amazon. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts.

Disney's polarizing live-action remake has earned instant redemption as a streaming sensation within days of its new release. Disney's live-action remakes have varied in quality over the years, though ultimately have been deemed inferior to the original productions. While some, like The Lion King, managed to resonate with critics and audiences while also making over $1 billion at the box office, others, like The Little Mermaid and Snow White, were unable to make a large profit despite hundreds of millions of dollars budgeted for production and advertisements.

One of Disney's latest failures in this regard is 2026's live-action Moana remake. Much like the original 2016 animated movie, the live-action remake follows a young girl named Moana (Catherine Laga'aia) who is chosen by the ocean around her island home to restore the heart of the goddess Te Fiti. She teams up with the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) to restore Te Fiti's heart and bring balance to the sea. Reviews for the Moana live-action remake were scathing, with critics finding it to be an underwhelming remake in contrast to the original.

Moana Is Already Redeeming Itself As A Streaming Hit

Image via Everett Collection

However, the live-action remake's original reception hasn't stopped it from becoming a major success on streaming. According to data from October 23, 2026, within just one day of the movie being on Disney+, the live-action Moana quickly climbed to the Number 1 spot on the platform worldwide. This includes being the Number 1 movie in 71 countries around the world, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Argentina, among dozens of others.

The movie's instant success on streaming comes just days after the other, animated Moana films managed to make it into Disney+'s Top 10 in the United States. Given the franchise as a whole has grossed over $2 billion in theaters between all three movies, it's not too surprising audiences at home are curious about the translation into live-action. It's also rather redemptive for the movie, considering not only its poor reviews from critics, but also its history in the world of Disney remakes.

The Film Remains One Of Disney's More Infamous Live-Action Remakes

Image via Disney

Live-action Moana generated some controversy when it was originally announced. This was because of its close release proximity to the original, which is only a decade old. This was alongside news original voice actor Auliʻi Cravalho wouldn't be returning as Moana in live-action, while Johnson would be returning as Maui, whom he voices in the original movies. Upon release, the film didn't perform well at the box office either, earning $323.6 million against a $250 million budget. This underperformance, poor reviews, and general negativity around the movie has made it infamous.

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However, it didn't stop those who did see the movie from enjoying it. While the film holds a 33% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, it has a Verified Fresh 87% with audiences. Even though it doesn't have the same effect as the animated original, audience members still found redemption in the series. Now that it's available to subscribers on Disney+, it seems like this particular Disney live-action remake has finally found its audience at home.