On today’s episode of the “Daily Variety” podcast, in our weekly box office segment, VarietyDisney’s Rebecca Rubin looks at what went wrong with Disney’s live-action remake of “Moana.” And Jon Erwin, the filmmaker behind “Young Washington,” explains how his Wonder Project brand is making independent films work like a business.

The box office dynamics around “Moana” appear to simply be a case of too much, too soon. Disney just released a “Moana” sequel in 2024. The live-action remake didn’t offer much urgency to bring families to multiplexes. The film’s hefty $250 million budget makes it an uphill climb after a modest $43 million start.

“When you look at something like ‘Lilo and Stitch,’ the live-action remake that came out last summer, it was a huge hit. It made a billion dollars, but it was produced for only $100 million. And if ‘Moana’ had also cost around $100 million, I think we’d be having a very different conversation,” Rubin says. “But with a budget of $250 million, it needs to make around $600 million worldwide to justify that price. And it’s pretty unrealistic to assume it will get anywhere near that number.”

As for why, Rubin says it all comes down to timing. “It underscores the fact that there’s something too soon. Even though ‘Moana’ is extremely popular, the movie came out a decade ago, which you would think would be enough time to create nostalgia. I think the problem is that they had the animated sequel less than two years ago, which was a huge hit. It made over a billion dollars. And that’s why I think people felt like they just saw this.”

Erwin, filmmaker and co-founder of Wonder Project, explains how the company has made the theatrical business model work for the purpose-focused content company that launched in 2021. The strong opening of “Young Washington” is a milestone for the company. Erwin’s passion for the subject helped propel him to make the ambitious biopic that focuses on George Washington’s formative years.

“The objective [with Wonder Project] It is simply telling stories that restore faith in things worth believing in,” says Erwin.

“I just wanted to write a love letter to America for our 250th anniversary. It’s a unique time in our lives, and I had become obsessed with the history of the American Revolution. It started about a decade ago. I was in New York working and couldn’t get into ‘Hamilton’. I was exhausted,” he recalls. “So I thought, I’ll read all the books it’s based on. So I started with Washington and then I became completely obsessed with the history of the American Revolution. And then I found this generally unknown chapter of Washington’s life when he was younger that defined his character. And I thought this would be a great way to start telling the story of the United States.”

(Pictured: Jon Erwin)

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