The success of Walt Disney Animation has been typified by peaks and valleys, which isn’t surprising when the studio’s been churning out a steady stream of movies since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. The first Golden Age lasted for close to four decades and resulted in some of the greatest hand-drawn animations in history, before the 1970s and 80s were a largely barren period.
The 1990s Disney Renaissance spawned several more all-timers including Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King, before the turn of the 21st Century marked another fall in fortunes both critically and commercially. However, over the last decade, Walt Disney Animation has rebounded in a massive way thanks to the likes of Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen and Zootopia. One of the finest efforts in recent years, though, was Moana, which raked in $690 million at the box office and scored widespread critical acclaim.
In the time since it was released, Moana‘s only become more popular as new audiences discover it on home video and Disney Plus, while a spinoff for Dwayne Johnson’s Maui has been rumored at various points as well. It remains to be seen if that’ll happen, but during yesterday’s presentation for investors where the Mouse House unveiled a massive amount of new projects, a Moana TV series was announced to be in the works, as the company continues to position original streaming content at the forefront of their business strategy.
No further details are available right now, but the small screen Moana looks to be a high end production given that it was revealed alongside a slew of Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars shows, so voice actress Auli’i Cravalho will more than likely return to play the title heroine, and Johnson could be tempted back as the tattooed demigod as well.
