Dwayne Johnson has responded to the poor reviews for the live-action remake of Moana, saying that it’s “just the way it goes”.
The new version of the Disney film was released in cinemas on July 10, with Johnson reprising his role as the demigod Maui from the 2016 animated original and its 2024 sequel.
The remake did not perform well at the global box office, making $266million (£197million) against a reported budget of $250million (£185million), and at the time of writing, it holds at 32 per cent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, dramatically lower than its audience score of 88 per cent.
Johnson has addressed the rough ride it has had from critics in a new interview with People, where he reflects on the first feedback he received on the film.
“Our first two reviews came out. I’ll never forget it, they were amazing,” he said. “I was like, wow.”
He then acknowledged that subsequent reviews were less enthusiastic, saying it “went another way, as sometimes happens. That’s just the way it goes because we’re in this business.”
“The challenge was, OK, let’s remember, though, what’s going to be beyond this opening weekend. Let’s remember what’s happening right now and the noise that’s happening right now.”
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro has also acknowledged that the new Moana, like The Mandalorian And Grogu, did not meet their box office expectations, but stressed that he expected both titles to perform well when they arrive on Disney+. The original Moana made $643million (£477million), while Moana 2 made $1.06billion (£786million).
Last year, Johnson also reflected on the disappointing box office result for The Smashing Machine, his A24 drama about the MMA fighter Mark Kerr. “In our storytelling world, you can’t control box office results,” he said. “But what I realised you can control is your performance, and your commitment to completely disappear and go elsewhere.”
