The media conglomerate Disney has an immense amount of experience when it comes to live-action adaptations of animated films. While they have winners like The Lion King, The Jungle Book, and Alice in Wonderland, they also have come up with less fortunate projects such as Snow White, Cruella, and Aladdin. Having said that, they are now taking another stab at the genre with a live-action version of Moana and have just released the first teaser of the project.
Moana has two instalments so far, and both of them did incredibly well at the global box office. According to Box Office Mojo, the first film made upwards of $680 million (Rs 6000 cr). The second film that came out 8 years later in 2024 superseded its predecessor’s collection and made over $1 billion (Rs 8800 cr) worldwide. Obviously, like some of their other successful animated films, the media house sees another lucrative opportunity in Moana and wants to cash in on it.
Instead of Auli’i Cravalho, who has voiced the character of Moana in the animated films, the protagonist will be played by Catherine Laga’aia. Actor Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is set to reprise his role as Maui, even though the teaser only shows him from the back when he is jumping from a cliff. By the looks of the teaser, the origin story of Moana is going to be retold, and that is why many fans on the internet are calling out the media house and their affinity for creating remakes.
One user on X (formerly Twitter) reacted to the teaser and said, “Disney is creatively bankrupt. Moana was one of the few new things that worked, so they instantly capitalised on it. They need the cash flow.” Another user wrote, “Disney is really scraping the barrel in terms of coming up with new content. In saying that, I’m curious about how the live-action Moana is going to pan out.” The comments section under the teaser wasn’t much different, as viewers criticised Disney for greenlighting the project. A viewer wrote, “This looks like if Disney told AI to make a live-action version of Moana.”
Disney really scraping the barrell in terms of coming up with new content. In saying that, I’m curious about how the live action Moana is going to pan out.
— Laoisy Thongs (@Laoisy_Thongs) November 18, 2025
Directed by Thomas Kail, who is known for his contributions to the world of theatre, the cast of Moana includes Catherine Laga’aia, Dwayne Johnson, John Tui, Frankie Adams, and Rena Owen.
