Moana is getting the live-action treatment from Disney, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is also presented. We're here to tell you everything we know so far, including the confirmed cast, the announcement and all we know about the release.
After only 8 years, the animated musical and action movie Moana gets the classic live-action treatment by Disney similar to other movies, such as The Lion King or The Little Mermaid .
Let's dive right into it and take a closer look at the announcement on YouTube, shall we?
Moana (Live Action) | Announcement Trailer & Criticism
In this announcement trailer, we learned that Disney is not only working on Moana 2, but also on a live-action version of the original movie from 2016. If you don't know what Moana is about, here is a short summary:
The 16-year-old Moana lives as the daughter of Chief Tui on a Paradise Island in the South Pacific. Like her ancestors, she loves the ocean, but her father has decreed that no one is allowed to go beyond the nearby reef by boat. But when danger threatens her island, Moana sails away in search of the demigod Maui, accompanied by the rooster Hei Hei and the pet pig Pua. Together with the legendary warrior, she wants to find a fabled island and save her family.
While the live-action movie is based on the original movie, it is obviously going to be the same plot.
The news of a live-action Moana was sadly not well-received.
"Every year that passes by, Hollywood's reputation sinks further."
"Proof, if it were ever needed, that it's never about what the audience wants, but what the studio wants the audience to want."
"Crazy how this has already got a live action in the works, yet movies like Princess & Frog still have not been considered."
Those were just some comments beneath the announcement video...
It's also speculated that Dwayne Johnson pushed hard to make the live-action movie really happen, especially because of the commercial failure of Black Adam and the cancellation of all DC productions he wanted to participate in.
And to be honest, a live-action movie for an animated film that just came out 8 years ago, won't hit the nostalgic factor as hard as The Little Mermaid or The Lion King did. I mean, what kind of audience is Disney targeting? Children, who are now older children? It just makes no sense and would be totally different with a remake in 20 years or more.
Moana (Live-Action) | Confirmed Cast
However, the live-action movie is gonna happen either way. Of course, Dwayne Johnson will play the role of demigod Maui. He also dubbed Maui in the animated movie, in case you didn't know.
Right now, he is the only member of the cast that has been confirmed. However, it's still known that Auli'i Cravalho, the voice actress for Moana, won't be playing the role of Moana in the upcoming live-action movie.
Moana (Live-Action) | Release Window
Originally, Disney planned to release the Moana live-action movie in June 2025. While they also want to release Moana 2 on November 27, 2024, they decided to shift the release to a now unspecified date.
These are all the deets we know about the upcoming live-action movie for Moana.