It was inevitable that Moana was going to be remade one day seeing as virtually every animated Disney feature worth its salt is going to be subjected to the live-action treatment sooner rather than later, but eyebrows were nonetheless raised when the project was officially announced a mere six and a half years after the original debuted in theaters.
However, things began to make a little more sense when it was also confirmed that Dwayne Johnson would not just be acting as a producer on the project, but reprising his role of Maui. As well as offering another reminder that he’s got no plans to broaden his horizons and branch out from an established screen persona that’s fast growing stagnant, it offers pointers that his ego was in play.
If you think about it, the longer it took for Moana to get a do-over, the less likely it would be that The Rock could conceivably tackle the part seeing as he just turned 51. After all, the likes of Cinderella, Snow White, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Mulan all came decades after their predecessors, which has led to a theory that Johnson was the driving force behind the remake’s entire existence, a line of inquiry emboldened by 22 year-old Auliʻi Cravalho confirming she won’t be involved on-camera.
Having recently witnessed DC League of Super-Pets and Black Adam under-perform at the box office before making his return to a certain franchise he repeatedly stressed he had no intention of ever revisiting, it’s not the most far-fetched theory in the world to suggest that Johnson was the one pushing for the Moana remake to happen in double-quick time so that he could play one of his most popular parts again, and virtually guarantee a certifiable box office sensation that features his name first in the marketing.
