Moana 2 could be on its way to vastly outgrossing the original Disney animated movie. The original Moana debuted in 2016 and grossed $687.2 million at the global box office against a budget of roughly $150 million. This was enough to make it the 12th highest-grossing movie of the year worldwide, during a period that featured intense competition from hits including Captain America: Civil War and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Additionally, it was the fourth highest-grossing animated movie of the year, behind Finding Dory, Zootopia, and The Secret Life of Pets.

The upcoming Moana 2 will feature the return of Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson as the voices of Moana and the demigod Maui respectively. The movie, which was originally developed as a Disney+ series before being converted into a feature, already broke a major record a month before its November 27 release. It has sold the highest number of first-day advance sale tickets of any 2024 animated movie, a roster which includes hits such as Inside Out 2, The Wild Robot, Kung Fu Panda 4, The Garfield Movie, and Despicable Me 4.

Moana 2’s Ticket Presales Record Shows How Big It Will Be At The Box Office

It Could Even Beat Inside Out 2

This pre-sale record came in the wake of projections showing that the movie could debut with a 3-day total between $75 and $82 million and a 5-day haul of more than $100 million for the midweek release. It could very well make even more than that with these presales, but even that 3-day total is a significant increase on the original movie, which debuted with $56.6 million. This success was presaged by the viewership of the Moana 2 trailer, which became the most-watched Disney trailer debut after it was watched 178 million times in the first 24 hours.

The
Moana 2
trailer beat the records set by the trailers for
Inside Out 2
,
Frozen II
, and
Incredibles 2
.

The fact that the movie bested Inside Out 2‘s first-day pre-sales is also a major accomplishment. That Pixar sequel is the highest-grossing movie of the year with a worldwide gross of $1.696 billion, a total that also makes it the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. The movie’s 3-day opening weekend gross was $154.2 million, which is significantly ahead of Moana 2‘s initial projections, but if these strong pre-sales figures continue, the movies could be neck and neck for the top of the chart.

How Much More Than Moana Will Moana 2 Make At The Box Office?

It Could Become A Billion-Dollar Release

Even if its opening weekend projections stay the same, if Moana 2 stays consistently ahead of the original movie, it could gross $950 million or more, which would put it $300 million over Moana and roughly even with Despicable Me 4 as the second highest-grossing animated movie of 2024. However, given this pre-sales record, its worldwide total could be even higher, perhaps even reaching a billion, especially considering the fact that the movie has had plenty of anticipation built for it since the original title has been available at home for more than half a decade, expanding its reach significantly.