Dwayne Johnson’s Live-Action Disney Remake Is More Important After 2 Confirmed Franchise Endings

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Furthermore, his 2024 holiday action-comedy Red One failed to ignite the box office, grossing only around $186 million. Finally, his attempt to pivot toward prestige drama with A24’s The Smashing Machine proved commercially disastrous. With his box office reliability in question, Johnson’s grip on the industry is slipping.

With his invincibility no longer a given, Johnson’s Hollywood future now hangs heavily on the success of a specific Disney franchise, especially given recent bad news. First, the long-gestating sequel to Jungle Cruise is officially dead in the water. Second, and perhaps more significant, Johnson has confirmed that the upcoming Jumanji: The Final Level will be exactly that—the conclusion of the saga. With Jungle Cruise cancelled and Jumanji wrapping up its storyline in 2026, Johnson is effectively losing two of his recurring roles in the same window. Consequently, his ability to remain a dominant box office force now rests on his return to Moana.

The Moana Live-Action Remake Could Help Dwayne Johnson to Keep His Hollywood Domain

The upcoming live-action adaptation of Moana offers a strategic lifeline for Johnson’s status as a leading man. Scheduled for release in 2026, the film sees Johnson reprising his role as the demigod Maui, acting alongside newcomer Catherine Laga’aia in the titular role. This project also positions him as a primary architect of the franchise’s expansion, serving as a producer through his Seven Bucks Productions banner. This producer credit grants him a level of creative authority he has not wielded since his departure from DC, allowing him to shape the narrative architecture of the film directly.

Johnson’s heavy investment in the live-action Moana comes at a time of extreme volatility for Disney’s live-action strategy, which has ceased to be the guaranteed revenue generator it was a decade ago. Snow White collapsed at the box office with a catastrophic $206 million global gross against a reported $209 million production budget, effectively rejecting the studio’s attempt to modernize its vintage 1937 property. Conversely, the live-action Lilo & Stitch, released in May 2025, tapped into early-2000s nostalgia to gross over $1 billion worldwide. Somewhere in the middle lies Mufasa: The Lion King, which earned a profitable $723 million but fell nearly $900 million short of its 2019 predecessor’s $1.6 billion haul. Even The Little Mermaid struggled to reach the upper echelons of success with $569 million, further solidifying the trend that the era of Disney remakes is seeing diminishing returns.

Fortunately for Johnson, Moana‘s box office history is promising. The original Moana was a massive financial success, earning $248 million domestically and $438 million internationally for a global total of $687 million. That initial investment has compounded over the last decade, with Nielsen streaming metrics from 2024 identifying the original film as the most-watched movie across all platforms, accumulating billions of viewing minutes annually. This surging popularity culminated in the release of Moana 2 in November 2024, which defied conservative tracking estimates to gross over $1.05 billion globally and shattered the all-time Thanksgiving box office record. So, by increasing his reach in a franchise that has become a juggernaut, Johnson is securing a vehicle positioned to restore his dominance.

The live-action Moana remake is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 10, 2026.

Do you think the live-action Moana will be able to distinguish itself enough from the animated films to justify its existence? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!