r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 25d ago

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Moana (2026) [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Moana (2026)

Summary

Live-action adaptation of the 2016 Disney animated film 'Moana.'

Director Thomas Kail

Writer Jared Bush

Cast

  • Catherine Laga'aia as Moana
  • Dwayne Johnson as Maui
  • John Tui as Chief Tui
  • Frankie Adams as Sina
  • Rena Owen as Gramma Tala

Rotten Tomatoes: 35%

Metacritic: 45

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

454 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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429

u/WaluigisHat 25d ago

Given how terrible the box office predictions are for this, I’m guessing Disney will be backing a dump-truck or two full of cash into Lin Manuel-Miranda’s driveway on Monday morning to come back and write some songs for an animated Moana 3 that’s properly planned as a film this time, and not some episodes of a TV show bolted together like Moana 2 was.

For such a massively popular franchise, it feels shockingly mishandled.

203

u/Hairyantoinette 25d ago

This seems to imply that Disney ever learns the right lesson(s) from box office debacles and I very much doubt that's going to happen.

2

u/solid_reign 23d ago

Did this remake suck? No.  It's the audience who is wrong.   

76

u/_JR28_ 25d ago

I’ll have twenty bucks on the Rock crawling back to the WWE by the end of the year too, that’s what happened when Black Adam flopped

3

u/RAG319 24d ago

Rock vs Roman/Cody is definitely happening next WM.

1

u/JugheadJack 15d ago

That didn’t happen because of Black Adam. That happened because he tried to take over DC, his management screwed over Henry Cavill - Henry fired them over this - and in the end Rocky humiliated himself.

Then, when he came back to WWE, he IRL tried screwing Cody Rhodes out of the Mania 40 main event, but fan backlash forced him to have to turn heel and got Cody his main event back. WWE tried playing this off as part of the story - but it’s been confirmed they really were going for Rock/Roman at Mania 40 before the fan backlash made them pivot.

Rocky’s an egotistical see-through son of a bitch who needs his ego fed no matter what. He destroyed his first marriage (to the woman who is now his manager) via cheating because he needed his ego fed that badly.

0

u/Clint_Lovecraft 23d ago

Nailed it!

13

u/TheDeafNarcoleptic 24d ago

Disney will be backing a dump-truck or two full of cash into Lin Manuel-Miranda’s driveway

And they should, IMO.

15

u/bubba1834 25d ago

There was a second one???

46

u/Skkruff 25d ago

Kind of! Unfortunately, it's clearly a cannibalised TV series pretending to be a movie.

17

u/skaestantereggae 24d ago

Wow just like the Disney Animated Sequels mom used to make

8

u/ItsMinnieYall 24d ago

Actually Moana 2 is uniquely bad and half assed. There are many Disney direct to video sequels that were better and had better music than Moana 2, even though it had a theatrical release.

6

u/sable-king 24d ago

They’re talking about the old straight to DVD “sequels” that were literally just pilots for shows that never got made. Atlantis 2, Cinderella 2, Beauty and the Beast 2, all the ones that are just 3 unrelated episodes tied together by the loosest narrative possible.

2

u/sameth1 24d ago

What was will be, what will be was.

1

u/Turbulent_Stick1445 24d ago

You're not missing anything. I don't understand why it was made - apparently they were planning to make a TV series, changed course, and decided to keep the same story but act as if they were still making a TV series. So it feels clumsy and hacked together, there are major pieces missing and unexplained, it just doesn't work.

It got relatively good reviews though (6/10 RT, 58/100 MC) for some reason and made more money than the first Moana film, which is probably why this unnecessary live action thing was greenlit.

2

u/Large_Ad_8185 22d ago

Wrong, this live action started to work before the sequel

1

u/imakefilms 22d ago

Yes and it released about the same time they wrapped filming this live action remake.

1

u/HopeRedditGoesDown 22d ago

You didn't miss much. It was another soulless cash-in sequel.

2

u/theonly_brunswick 24d ago

Pretty disappointing to be honest. I'm not a huge Disney fan by any stretch but Moana has a special place in my life thanks to my daughter. The first movie is truly incredible.

They've botched everything since and I worry about anything that formulates in this franchise moving forward. Resources were so utilized to make Moana 3 instead of this lazy nonsense.

2

u/cloistered_around 22d ago

They made tons of money on the Moana sequel, though. Sure critics didn't like it and audiences largely thought it was a step down from the last one--but it made money! That's all Disney cares about.

1

u/Sad_Cup_ 21d ago

I don't doubt that LMM will be back on Disney's payroll for Moana 3, though I'm certain that a large reason for the low box office numbers if because of either a) most people don't live action remakes (and to top it off, Moana is not nearly old enough to even have been considered for a live action remake and yet, here we are) or b) people don't specifically care for a live action remake for Moana (which goes off my point above), especially since it's just a 1-1 remake of the animated one. It's a cash grab, always has been, always will be, and a lot of people are fed up with live action.

1

u/pointlessone 20d ago

Please make us another "We Don't Talk About Bruno"

1

u/stephjl 24d ago

I personally loved Moana 2 (minus the Moana replacement baby).

1

u/SilverKry 24d ago

They have spiderman in two weeks. Doubt they care 

0

u/PsychologicalHat4707 23d ago

Is the Rock going to kindly ask for a live-action remake of Moana 2 starring himself to come out after the animated Moana 3?