Moana 2

[Kyle]

Haven't watched this yet.

Since many of you are disappointed, do you think keeping Moana 2 a streaming series would have solved its problems, or would they have been present anyway?

It would have still been a faulty product but contained to the streaming service, so the impact (or damage) wouldn’t have been as widespread. Not sure if an additional 20 or 30 minutes of total runtime would have made much difference; I’m leaning towards a “no” more.

What I don’t like is the precedent this sets; forget the mediocrity of Strange World or Wish, the money Moana 2 made ensures we will see even more undercooked movies coming from Disney over the next decade. This is pretty much the same line of thinking that ended up birthing DTV sequels. The original classics were huge hits on home video and their sequels were quick and cheap cashgrabs profiting off an existing IP. Just replace “home video” with “Disney+”.

Thankfully, this process seems cyclical, so when they eventually run out of movies to sequelize and potentially crash and burn in the process, it will open the door for a new revival and maybe inject new life into the animation division.

This only happened because they had a series they decided to turn into a theatrical release at the 11th hour, no? They did that because they seem to be pivoting back to theatrical releases over Disney plus series. So unless they got another half baked series that they feel can be converted into a movie I don't think this is exactly going to be a trend, but a one off. Does this mean there wont be low effort sequels, of course not. But the idea that a low effort sequel can still produce a high boxoffice isnt some new idea. But they know if they do that more than a few times in a row, it will chip away at their overall reputation with families. I think if they knew moana 2 was going to be theatrical from the jump it would have been very different in terms of structure, the music, etc.

[Warm Regards]

The podcast "The Writers Panel with Ben Blacker" did a conversation with Dana Ledoux Miller, one of Moana 2's writers alongside Jared Bush. Miller talks about the movie's production timeline.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d ... 0678935358

Summary from reddit;

Writer Ledoux Miller was brought on in February 2023, it was still a TV show at this point. Worth noting is that she had just finished scripting the live action version at this stage, so 'Moana 2' did not exist until well after the live action had begun production. She turned in several revisions for the TV show during 2023.

September 2023: Jared Bush first started mooting the idea of it being a feature film. She mentions that this was an 'off the record' discussion, and that the expectation of the staff was that they'd be done with the last episode by late summer/fall.

Late 2023: switch officially made to feature film.

Staff were given the 'official call' in January 2024. Miller says that there was panic when the release date was locked onto Nov 27, and the crew moved forward with "a hope and a prayer."

February 2024: formally announced as a feature film.

Miller confirms that all the film's major setpieces (giant clam, Matangi, final storm god) had already been built and made for the TV show, so had to be used to avoid raising costs.

Shares an amusing (and also rather telling) anecdote where Jared Bush instructed them on how to organically move into "the I Want song," and [Miller] went "the WHAT?!"

November 2024: release.

[Mooky]

It would have still been a faulty product but contained to the streaming service, so the impact (or damage) wouldn’t have been as widespread. Not sure if an additional 20 or 30 minutes of total runtime would have made much difference; I’m leaning towards a “no” more.

What I don’t like is the precedent this sets; forget the mediocrity of Strange World or Wish, the money Moana 2 made ensures we will see even more undercooked movies coming from Disney over the next decade. This is pretty much the same line of thinking that ended up birthing DTV sequels. The original classics were huge hits on home video and their sequels were quick and cheap cashgrabs profiting off an existing IP. Just replace “home video” with “Disney+”.

Thankfully, this process seems cyclical, so when they eventually run out of movies to sequelize and potentially crash and burn in the process, it will open the door for a new revival and maybe inject new life into the animation division.

This only happened because they had a series they decided to turn into a theatrical release at the 11th hour, no? They did that because they seem to be pivoting back to theatrical releases over Disney plus series. So unless they got another half baked series that they feel can be converted into a movie I don't think this is exactly going to be a trend, but a one off. Does this mean there wont be low effort sequels, of course not. But the idea that a low effort sequel can still produce a high boxoffice isnt some new idea. But they know if they do that more than a few times in a row, it will chip away at their overall reputation with families. I think if they knew moana 2 was going to be theatrical from the jump it would have been very different in terms of structure, the music, etc.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. Of course Moana 2 is a unique case* and of course there'll be other low-effort sequels. What I missed to highlight in my original post is that Moana 2 making a buttload of money incentivizes Disney to rush out any sequel they may or may not have in development, because M2 shows that quality obviously isn't of the greatest importance as long as the IP is popular, and Disney+ viewership can be used a good indicator of that.

*When it comes to Disney anyway; Toy Story 2 had a similar trajectory but that was Pixar on its initial quality streak.

[Kyle]

Toy story 2 was indeed destined to be a straight to video sequel, but its important to note that the version that was going to end up there, is entirely different from what we ended up getting. Most of that version got thrown out.

But back to your point, making a lousy sequel that makes money will only work in the short term. Disney knows this I think. Maybe not with starwars, but with their own homegrown ip? I think they care a bit more.

[Sotiris]

Lin-Manuel Miranda Reveals Why He Didn’t Return for ‘Moana 2’
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 236082915/

[Disney's Divinity]

I haven't listened to the full soundtrack, but I didn't notice the music here being any better or worse than the first. Cravalho's voice was a tad less irritating this time though. "Beyond" feels like a repeat of "HFIG," tbh. I remember some claimed "Into the Unknown" was another "LIG" back when Frozen II was out, but thematically it's nothing like "LIG"--"ItU" being more like "HFIG" actually as far as a desire to pursue adventure while "LIG" was a song aboit self-empowerment and freedom--whereas both "HFIG" and "Beyond" seem to be about the same thing (Moana going past her limits or whatever).

Actually a lot of what I've heard sounds like they copied Elsa's story from that sequel with Moana here (conflict over leaving family and her responsibilities in pursuit of adventure, "dying," becoming goddess-like by the end) which sort of makes sense because the character always felt like a repeat of Elsa since they made the next princess after Frozen have magic powers as well (probably because they assumed it would help with merchandise going by Elsa's popularity--and they weren't wrong, I suppose, since Moana's fairly popular).

[PatchofBlue]

It does sound like there was never an option where Miranda was working on a tv series, whether that was Disney's or Miranda's call remains open to speculation.

He's a good sport in hyping up Barlow & Bear.

[UmbrellaFish]

I wish my discount theater hadn’t gone belly up with Covid. At this point, I’ll just wait to watch it until the physical release since I’m a completionist. I’m in no rush to see it.

[Pokenonbinary]

The movie is having horrible legs at the level of Bolt

People predict it would barely reach over 400M, horrible for a movie that opened at 221M

Inside Out 2 opened with 155M and ended making over 600M domestic

[DisneyFan09]

Lin-Manuel Miranda Reveals Why He Didn’t Return for ‘Moana 2’
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 236082915/

Well, his absence was never a big loss, anyway. His songs for the first Moana were mostly passable at their best (with the exception of Shiny and perhaps You`re Welcome). And frankly, the soundtrack for the sequel was somewhat better, so there`s no need for him to return to the franchise

[Pokenonbinary]

Lin-Manuel Miranda Reveals Why He Didn’t Return for ‘Moana 2’
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 236082915/

Well, his absence was never a big loss, anyway. His songs for the first Moana were mostly passable at their best (with the exception of Shiny and perhaps You`re Welcome). And frankly, the soundtrack for the sequel was somewhat better, so there`s no need for him to return to the franchise

You might be the only person in the planet that thinks like this

[DisneyFan09]

Well, his absence was never a big loss, anyway. His songs for the first Moana were mostly passable at their best (with the exception of Shiny and perhaps You`re Welcome). And frankly, the soundtrack for the sequel was somewhat better, so there`s no need for him to return to the franchise

You might be the only person in the planet that thinks like this

Well, we all have our different tastes. But were you trying to insult me?

[Pokenonbinary]

You might be the only person in the planet that thinks like this

Well, we all have our different tastes. But were you trying to insult me?

It wasn't an insult, it was a very soft comment about how nobody thinks the music is better than the original one

I don't see anything insulting at all from my comment

[DisneyFan09]

Well, we all have our different tastes. But were you trying to insult me?

It wasn't an insult, it was a very soft comment about how nobody thinks the music is better than the original one

I don't see anything insulting at all from my comment

Well, okay.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

The movie is having horrible legs at the level of Bolt

People predict it would barely reach over 400M, horrible for a movie that opened at 221M

Inside Out 2 opened with 155M and ended making over 600M domestic

It’ll stabilize and hold well during the holidays.

Box Office Reddit is full of doomsdaying idiots who try to claim victory too early.

As one user said, “Moana 2 would have to have Joker 2 level reception or legs to miss a billion.”

That ain’t happening.

[Disney's Divinity]

Well, his absence was never a big loss, anyway. His songs for the first Moana were mostly passable at their best (with the exception of Shiny and perhaps You`re Welcome). And frankly, the soundtrack for the sequel was somewhat better, so there`s no need for him to return to the franchise

You might be the only person in the planet that thinks like this

Nope.

[DisneyFan09]

You might be the only person in the planet that thinks like this

Nope.

Aaaaw, thanks Divinity

[Kyle]

I'm no fan of his(I honestly would like them to just stop using him), but I gotta say nothing from the sequel sounds as good or memorable.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

I'm no fan of his(I honestly would like them to just stop using him), but I gotta say nothing from the sequel sounds as good or memorable.

Beyond sounds memorable.

[reee9948]

Well, his absence was never a big loss, anyway. His songs for the first Moana were mostly passable at their best (with the exception of Shiny and perhaps You`re Welcome). And frankly, the soundtrack for the sequel was somewhat better, so there`s no need for him to return to the franchise

You might be the only person in the planet that thinks like this

Sorry to say, but that's not true.