The Moana 2 release date is just two weeks away, but once the animated sequel comes out, it won’t be long before Disney fans see the Polynesian heroine again among another one of the upcoming Disney movies on the way. A live-action Moana movie is currently in the works, and CinemaBlend spoke to its co-writer about working on it alongside Moana 2.
What Moana 2's Co-Director Told Us About Working On Live-Action Moana
Dana Ledoux Miller has been living and breathing Moana the past few years considering she is the co-writer and co-director of Moana 2, as well as the co-writer of the live-action Moana. When I attended a Moana 2 press event at Walt Disney Animation Studios, I spoke to Miller about working on the two projects at once. Here’s what she said:
I started on the live action first before I came over to the animated side. I co-wrote the live-action with Jared Bush, who I also co-wrote this feature [with]. And so I think that collaborative relationship between us has become so meaningful. But, we loved being immersed in Moana's first story because we felt so passionately that Moana 2 should be about building on the first film, not trying to replace anything that happened before that. So we were living in that first film every day, writing that live-action script. So I felt like I knew exactly who Moana was in that first film, and it really helped us build on that. It was like sense memory, you know? We were so in Moana's world that it only felt natural to expand.
As Miller shared, she was first attached to bringing more Moana into the world when she was hired to co-write the upcoming live-action remake with Jared Bush. The movie was announced last summer, with The Rock set to play Maui in live action (along with executive producing with Moana voice actress Auli’i Cravalho) and Thomas Kail directing. When she boarded Moana 2, she felt like having been on the live action movie helped because it helped her want to build on the story rather than retread the same waters. It also helped the creative in terms of really knowing and understanding the heroine for Moana 2.
What's Happening With The Live-Action Moana Movie?
The live-action Moana movie began filming this summer with Dwayne Johnson as Maui and a host of new cast members. Newcomer Catherine Laga‘aia has been announced to be playing Moana in live action, along with John Tui playing Chief Tui, Frankie Adams as Moana’s mother Sina, and Rena Owen as Gramma Tala. The live-action Moana release date is set for July 10, 2026, about a year and a half from now. We expect the upcoming movie to tell Moana’s story once again, but with the palpable details of the Polynesian culture and Hawai’i.
The remake’s release will come just about a decade after the original movie came out. In the meantime, there’s a lot to get excited about regarding Moana 2. In the sequel hitting theaters on November 27, Moana has a cute little sister to meet, and Pua has a lot more screentime during the heroine’s latest adventure - both of which I learned during CinemaBlend's conversation with the Moana 2 directors.
