With its live-action adaptation of the 2016 movie on the way, Disney undoubtedly has Moana on the mind. At a promotional press conference for the movie, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who has played Maui in both the animated and live-action versions, mentioned discussions of a third animated Moana movie coming.
When Johnson answered regarding the third movie, he seemed keen to pivot back to the upcoming live-action film.
“Yes, we have talked about ‘Moana 3,’ yes. But first, live-action ‘Moana,’ we’ll let that come out first.”
While Johnson reprised his role in the live-action version, Auliʻi Cravalho, Moana’s original voice actress, took a step back from the project. In an interview with TheWrap, she said, “It feels really important to me to pass the baton to the next young woman of Pacific Island descent.” However, she did still serve as an executive producer on the project.
That next young woman was Catherine Laga’aia, a Samoan Australian actress who beat 32,000 other contenders to the role. While she may be Moana in live-action, Variety expects Auliʻi Cravalho to return for the next animated installment.
Both the first and second animated movies were success stories for Disney, with Moana 2 grossing over $1 billion at the box office. Critic reviews put the movie squarely at 61%, but many fans overwhelmingly disagreed with an average audience rating of 85%. That and the sheer revenue it produced are a testament to the place the characters hold in the hearts of audiences.
After Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the first film’s score, stepped down for the second movie, it is uncertain who will take that helm for a third.
Many of the details about the third movie are unclear—all we know is that it exists—but the one sure thing is that the world is not done with Moana yet.