Moana 2 crossed the $600 million mark at the global box office, meaning it’s well on its way to outperforming the original film’s $643 million worldwide take. Additionally, M2 teased yet another sequel via a mid-credits scene, so it’s a strong bet that threequel is on the way. Still, before we even get there, we’ll receive the live-action Moana remake of the original 2016 animated hit. And we know more about the new film starring Dwayne Johnson than we should, thanks to the paparazzi, who've apparently found a wild workaround to snap photos.
Filming movies seems to be a continuous battle between filmmakers trying to preserve the magic of filmmaking and paparazzi photographers trying to “get the shot” and be the first to get an image of an actor in costume. Recently, images of the Moana set went viral and included Dwayne Johnson’s Maui body suit.Johnson tells Variety that the movie had done a good job blocking the photogs by land using walls. But, with that, the paparazzi came at them by sea. He explained…
We shot outside and when those pictures surfaced, I was like, ‘Shit, we got caught,’ cause we were putting up, like, walls so there was no paparazzi. But they got into boats and started shooting pictures.
It all shows the lengths paparazzi are willing to go to to get the pictures they can sell. It seems the production officials felt they were safe if they blocked off the views from the land, and there’s a good chance the movie needed the water to be open for at least some of the shots. This meant there was no opening for any photographer enterprising enough to hire a boat. Assuming they sold the pictures for more than the boat rental cost, I guess that makes it a win.
Dwayne Johnson certainly looked even bigger than usual in the images that circulated online, leading some to believe that he may have been wearing a body suit in the set images, though the clarity made things questionable. Johnson confirmed that he is wearing a body suit in the images, which bulk up his already impressive muscles. Yet, more importantly, the suit takes care of Maui’s full body tattoos, which would take a lot longer to apply if they were done artistically.
Unwanted photographers are just something that movies filming on lactation have to deal with. For instance, lots of pictures of James Gunn's Superman were leaked, leading to several revelations about the film. To some extent, such things can't be avoided, something James Gunn admitted later.
When movies film on soundstages they can much more easily control access but, considering that Moana really needs that beach environment, a lot of it is going to need to be filmed outdoors. On the plus side, since everybody knows what Moana is about, the movie probably doesn’t have any major spoilers that it desperately needs to keep hidden.
Stream the original Moana movie now using a Disney+ subscription, and check out the recently released sequel in theaters now. Also, the live-action remake opens in theaters on July 10, 2026.
