Disney surprised everyone with the announcement of a sequel to the 2016 animated darling Moana, tentatively titled Moana 2. It’s a busy time for the character’s universe as a live-action adaptation of the first film, starring Dwayne Johnson but not Auli’i Cravalho, was just announced in 2023 and is meant to come out in 2025. That should be more than enough to confuse audiences who are already being asked to keep up with at least 10 other multimedia franchises.
Moana 2 was initially planned as a television series for Disney Plus but, Bob Iger announced in an earnings call on Feb. 7, 2024, that executives were “impressed” by what the team had done so far that they knew “it deserved” to be a movie.
Will Moana 2 release in theaters?
Yes. In fact, Moana 2 will receive an exclusive theatrical release as early as Nov. 27, 2024, making its way to Disney Plus shortly after in the same content strategy as recent Disney properties. The quality of the images already created by director Dave Derrick Jr (who was a storyboard artist on the first film) convinced Iger and co. that the project needed a theatrical release.
Not much is known yet about the film apart from a short description that teases an “expansive new voyage with Moana, Maui, and a brand-new crew of unlikely seafarers” that begins when the heroine receives an “unexpected call” from her “wayfinding ancestors.”
Abigail Barlow, Emily Bear, Opetaia Foa’i, and Mark Mancina, who worked with Lin-Manuel Miranda in the original film, are back in charge of the soundtrack for Moana 2. There is no information about the cast at this point.
