How 'Moana 2' charted a course back to the big screen
Entertainment
When Bob Iger returned as chief executive of Disney in late 2022
NEW YORK (AP) — When you look at some of the numbers, it’s hard to believe “Moana 2” was ever going to be anything but a movie.
When the teaser trailer for “Moana 2” dropped in May, it was watched 178 million times in 24 hours. That’s more than “Inside Out 2,” more than “Frozen 2,” more than any animated Disney movie before.
A veritable ocean’s worth of anticipation is awaiting the sequel to 2016’s “Moana,” all proof that one of the more dramatic pivots in recent Walt Disney Co. history is paying off, big time. “Moana 2” was originally intended to be a streaming series. Now, it’s steering toward being one of the fall’s biggest blockbusters. What can you say except you’re welcome?
When Bob Iger returned as chief executive of Disney in late 2022, one of his top priorities was shifting away from putting the studio’s most prized assets onto streaming. He wanted to put the focus back on the big screen — and all the ancillary benefits (including merchandizing and streaming) that follow after.
The series that directors David Derrick Jr. and Jason Hand had worked on for more than a year would become “Moana 2.” The movie, which also added Dana Ledoux Miller as a director and co-writer, was only announced earlier this year. It’s opening Nov. 27.
“It became all hands on board,” Derrick says. “There’s a saying in Samoa: ‘All together or not at all.’”
Derrick and Hand, both veteran storyboard artists at Disney, had effectively done their job too well. Their work convinced Disney executives to put the studio’s full weight behind a theatrical film, even though a live-action “Moana” remained in development.
(That movie, directed by Thomas Kail, is set to open in July 2026.)
“We developed the world, we developed the over-arching story that we’re still telling,” says 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.”
