‘Moana’ Live-Action Remake in the Works at Disney, Dwayne Johnson Starring
This is not an April Fool’s joke. Dwayne Johnson has officially announced that Disney is in early development of a live-action remake of the 2016 animated hit Moana.
The surprising bit of news was announced during Disney’s annual shareholders meeting on Monday. Johnson voiced Maui in the original film, and as announced in the video below, he will also be playing him in the film; he explained that the character was inspired by his grandfather. He is executive producing via Seven Bucks, along with Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia. Auli‘i Cravalho, who voiced the character in the original, will also be an executive producer — Disney hasn’t announced whether she’ll be reprising the role in live-action or not.
Jared Bush wrote the original film and is returning for the remake (which Johnson described as a “reimagining”). No director has been announced yet. Disney veterans John Musker and Ron Clements co-directed the animated feature. There’s no word yet on Lin Manuel Miranda’s participation; he was heavily involved in the music of the original, which included two of the most iconic tunes from Disney Animation in the 2010s, “How Far I’ll Go”, which received an Oscar nomination, and Johnson’s “You’re Welcome”.
Reading between the lines, it sounds like Dwayne Johnson went back to Disney after his efforts to pull a “hostile takeover” of the DCU failed, and pitched them a live-action reimagining of Moana. If we’re being honest here, this was a long time coming — it was no coincidence that the character of Maui looked a lot like Johnson, and they probably were discussing future live-action possibilities back when they were making the first film. Johnson probably thought this was the best possible time for him, as he’s now looking for new ways to reinvent himself after leaving his two biggest franchises: Fast & Furious and Black Adam.
The role of Moana is the big question mark here. Cravalho has probably aged out of the role by now, but if they are doing a reimagining, they could still fit her into the part. As stated earlier, it’s unclear if she will be returning or not; in a statement, she said the following, which could apply to her being involved as an actress, or simply as an executive producer:
“[Moana] has had such a profound impact on how we think of Disney princesses. Moana’s strength and perseverance are inspiring—to audiences around the world, to me and to everyone who helped bring her to life. I’m looking forward to sharing her story in a whole new way.”
The new film joins a long list of upcoming live-action reimaginings from Disney, and becomes the second animated film from the 21st century to get into active development; Lilo & Stitch, which just found her Lilo, is going into production this summer. Coming up next are David Lowery’s Peter Pan and Wendy and Rob Marshall’s The Little Mermaid. Moana may be the most recent animated feature to be turned into live-action across all Hollywood, but don’t be surprised to find out a Frozen live-action remake goes into development within the next few years. Universal announced earlier this year they are remaking 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon as a live-action film, after all.
Moana grossed $682 million worldwide after premiering on Thanksgiving back in 2016. It was nominated for two Oscars, losing Best Animated Feature to Zootopia (which has an animated sequel in the works) and Best Original Song to “City of Stars” from La La Land.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
