'Moana 2' Chee-Hoos Its Way To Disney+ With Billion Dollar Waves

What can be better than this? The sequel to the 2016 film arrives on the streamer in March

My wish for you is to find your way to Disney+ in March. Moana 2, the sequel to Disney’s most-streamed movie of all time, is headed home, premiering on the streamer on March 12.

Moana 2 was originally conceived and developed for Disney+ as a streaming series, announced on Disney Investor Day 2020, and set for a 2023 release. But that passed. And so did 38 days of 2024 before Disney finally filled its vacant but traditional November animation flag for the year by announcing the Moana series was being turned into a full-fledged sequel film. It was a move that reminded many of certain Disney direct-to-video movies like Atlantis: Milo’s Return. The decision to make such transformations was said to be a strategic decision to “maximize revenue and profitability”. And boy did it, crossing $1 billion at the box office around January 21. It currently sits at $1.05 billion, on a split of $458.8 million domestically off of a $139 million opening weekend and a $225 million first five days, and $594.6 million internationally, making it the third-highest grossing movie of 2024.

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Having opened on November 27, as much of the trades have noted, it will have been a 105-day theatrical-to-Disney+ window. But strangely there is an exasperation that it’s “finally” coming. In reality, it’s just 2 days longer than Inside Out 2 and five days shorter than Deadpool & Wolverine. Moana 2 went up against the previous Friday’s openers Paramount’s Gladiator II, which took 60 days to reach Paramount+, and Universal’s Wicked, which won’t hit Peacock until March 21, 9 days after Moana 2, on a 120-day window.

Moana 2 “reunites Moana and Maui three years later for an expansive new voyage alongside a crew of unlikely seafarers. After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced.” Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson return as Moana and Maui respectively, with a supporting cast that includes Temuera Morrison as Moana’s father Chief Tui, Nicole Scherzinger as her mother Sina, David Fane as Kale, the grumpy farmer of the wayfinding crew, Hualālai Chung as Maui superfan Moni, Rose Matafeo as Loto, the brainy but quirky craftswoman of Moana's wayfinding crew, and Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda as Simea, Moana’s little sister. And of course Alan Tudyk as Heihei the pet rooster. It’s directed by David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller, each making their directorial debut. Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear were the film’s composers.

Disney Animation released an announcement and a poster for the Disney+ arrival. The announcement uses much the same footage pre-release material did. The poster feels a bit weirdly composed, with the movie logo much smaller than the service’s.

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Source: Variety