How ‘Moana 2’ Was Transformed From a Disney+ Series to the Studio’s Next Big Blockbuster
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, the story of Moana was going to continue on Disney+.
Building on the wildly successful 2016 film, directors David Derrick Jr. and Jason Hand worked for more than a year on a new streaming series that would expand on the world of Moana and tell the titular heroine’s next great adventure.
“It was always going to be big,” Hand said in a new interview with the Associated Press. “It just kept on getting bigger.”
Photo: Disney
However, during the production of the new Moana streaming series, it became clear that something needed to change. The story was too good not to be shown on the big screen.
“We developed the world, we developed the over-arching story that we’re still telling,” said Derrick. “We would screen it in our big theater the way we watch all of us our projects here. There was a groundswelling, unanimous concert of everyone saying this needs to be on the big screen.”
Photo: Disney
“We always felt that it deserved to be on the big screen,” Hand added. “It’s the best way to tell a story.”
The Decision Is Made
Luckily for the Moana 2 team, Bob Iger returned as CEO of The Walt Disney Company in November 2022. Unlike Bob Chapek, who wanted Disney to use the power of its most popular franchise to prop up the company’s streaming services, Iger still prioritized theatrical releases.
Eventually, the decision was made, and the feature film began to take form. While the filmmakers were ecstatic, there was also newfound pressure on the team.
“Yes, it was a massive undertaking — probably more so than what we initially imagined,” Hand says. “But ultimately we were telling that same story. A lot of stuff that went by the wayside just naturally helped the story be its proper fighting weight.”
Soon, Dana Ledoux Miller had come on board as director and co-writer.
“I knew as a writer that [the original Moana] was going to change what was possible,” says Miller. “It was going to change the way when I walk into a room I was going to be able to pitch a story because people had a new understanding of what it meant to be of the Pacific.”
Photo: Disney
“It became all hands on board,” Derrick says. “There’s a saying in Samoa: ‘All together or not at all.’”
‘Moana 2’ Is on the Way
Based on the early results, it looks like Disney has another blockbuster on its hands with Moana 2. Earlier this year, the film shattered the record for the most-watched trailer for an animated film. Fans are clearly excited.
Photo: Disney
While moviegoers will have to wait a couple more months until Moana sails back into theaters, it sounds like the wait will be worth it.
This time around, Moana is set to heed the call of her ancestors and sail the Pacific to reunite the people of Oceania. The film will not only feature a cast of familiar faces, including Maui, Hei Hei, and Pua, but it will also introduce a new crew into Moana’s life.
“The way the first film connected her to her past, she’s now connecting everyone to the future,” says Derrick. “So we added and created all these new characters when it was in series and we got to know them in a deep way.”
Familiar Faces and New Characters
On her latest adventure, Moana will be joined by Loto (an engineer), Kele ( a farmer), and Moni (a historian and storyteller.
“What people don’t realize is that the people in the Pacific found the last discoverable land on Earth,” said Derrick.
Photo: Disney
“They created the largest cultural ethnosphere in the world prior to westward expansion — one third of the Earth, all through the art and spirituality and science of wayfinding. So for me, it’s very important that each one of these crew members display that Indigenous genius that it took.”
Photo: Disney
Moana 2 will hit theaters on November 27.
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