‘Moana 2’ Was Still A Disney+ Series in January 2024

“Moana 2” is currently lighting up the box-office, having already amassed $600M worldwide. It’s a huge hit, and further proves how popular the first film, released in 2016, has become on streaming.

However, what’s most interesting about “Moana 2” is that it was originally developed, and almost practically shot, as a Disney+ series before being reworked as a film. We didn’t have much information about its production history, that is until now.

Dana Ledoux Miller, who co-wrote and co-directed “Moana 2,” was a guest on the Writer’s Panel podcast and has seemingly given us lengthy details on the quick turnaround from it being a TV show to a film. It’s quite the wild story.

Miller was brought on in February 2023, at that point it was still a TV show. She had turned in several revisions for the series during the course of 2023. It wasn’t until September 2023, in an “off the record discussion,” that co-writer Jared Bush first started bringing up the idea of turning “Moana 2” into a film. The series was practically done production by October/November 2023.

It wasn’t until mid-January 2024 that staff was briefed on the series becoming a film. Miller says that there was panic when the release date was locked for November 27. However, Miller confirms that all of the film's major setpieces had already been shot up to that point.

No surprise, this news is only coming after “Moana 2” has become this gigantic box office success. I also don’t believe Disney will be learning the right creative lessons with this one, especially since, despite its incredible earnings, “Moana 2” is being seen as a step down in quality from the original.

With the success of “Moana 2” and “Inside Out 2,” Disney will now be doubling down on its animated sequels, and they already have “Toy Story 5,” “Incredibles 3,” “Zootopia 2,” “Frozen 3,” and “Frozen 4” coming down the pipeline. Who knows what else will now be additionally greenlit