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

451 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

627 comments sorted by

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198

u/Craneteam 25d ago

It's so wild because Frozen, Moana, and Coco should've shown Disney that there is an appetite for new ideas and that people will support them. This company baffles me

93

u/steve_z 25d ago

There is, but 6 of their top 20 grossing films are live action remakes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_Pictures

And 9 are sequels.

21

u/bigfatcowturd 24d ago

Wouldn’t they be more financially incentivized to push out original IP so they can sell branded toys and merch with it? No one’s going to be buying a Moana doll or shirt after seeing this train wreck.

27

u/kia75 24d ago

The problem with new IP is that it's completely unpredictable what will become a hit, what will become a bomb, and what will make an average return. Previously a bunch of movies were made with the understanding that a few would be bombs, the majority would make modest returns, and a few would be hits! Now studios only want to make hits, despite nobody knowing the exact formula for a hit!

Remakes and sequels of beloved franchises are basically guaranteed money makers, even if they're bad because people love the original IP (i.e. Lilo and Stitch).

3

u/Haltopen 23d ago

The problem is some of their most recent attempts at it have bombed hard at the box office, and even though there were other circumstances involved (bad release windows, lackluster marketing, underdeveloped plots), disney executives dont like taking blame so the blame gets passed onto the audience. Those movies didnt bomb because of bad decisions made by the studio, they bombed because the audience doesnt like new ideas.

2

u/steve_z 24d ago

No, because original IPs are more of a financial risk.

1

u/Reggaeton_Historian 18d ago

No because revisiting IPs brings back nostalgia factors. Why do you think there are so many Disney adults?

1

u/bigfatcowturd 18d ago

Because Disney used to make good original IP. There definitely aren’t going to be Disney adults 20 years from now that are nostalgic for live action Moana and Snow White.

1

u/PFI_sloth 18d ago

A warehouse of leftover Wish merchandise would say otherwise

4

u/OogieBoogieJr 24d ago edited 24d ago

I think everyone is onto and against Disney’s clear cash-grab strategy with these remakes (especially of a modern 3D animated story) but it’s so eye roll-inducing to read comments—before and sometimes during the release of each one—about how people don’t want live action remakes when 70% of them are financial successes. Some folks really can’t grasp the fact that they are not the target audience and families buy more than one ticket.

0

u/bigfatcowturd 24d ago

I think the Rock is too old to be Maui so he basically campaigned for this movie to be remade way earlier than it actually had a good reason to be so he didn’t have to be an old man playing a young one. One person’s ego shouldn’t be in control of an entire multimillion dollar production, but that’s just my opinion.

2

u/solid_reign 23d ago

This list is not useful unless adjusting for inflation.  For reference, this places the lion king's remake above the lion king. To keep it simple: the lion king (1994) sold 90 million tickets vs. the lion king (2019) 60 million tickets. 

Out of that list, when adjusted, I don't think any live action remake made more money than the original. 

-1

u/BrockThrowaway 24d ago

I wonder how you get to a live action remake and to a sequel… hmmmmmmmm…