Disney Reveals Moana 2 With Surprising New Teaser, 2024 Release Date

Disney revealed a big surprise this week, as a sequel to is officially on the way. Not only is Moana 2 actually happening, but the film is already almost finished and hitting theaters later this year. On Thursday, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced the arrival of Moana 2, the direct sequel to 2016’s Oscar-nominated Moana. “Moana remains and incredibly popular franchise,” Iger said. “And we can’t wait to give you more of Moana and Maui and Moana 2 comes to theaters this November.”

In addition to revealing the news about Moana 2, Disney shared a short teaser for the upcoming film. You can check out the teaser in the video below!

Disney announced that Moana 2 is hitting theaters on November 27th, keeping in the tradition of releasing an animated film around Thanksgiving every year. The film is directed by Dave Derrick Jr. featuring music from Abigail Barlow, Emily Bear, Opetaia Foa’i, and Mark Mancina.

According to Iger, this new Moana movie was originally intended to be a Moana TV series for Disney+. Rather than keep one of its most popular characters on streaming, however, Disney opted to bring Moana back to theaters. Given how popular Moana has become in the years since the first movie’s release. That first film made more than $680 million at the box office.

Moana 2 has to be seen as nothing short of a massive win for Disney in 2024, given that the last two animated features from the storied studio underperformed. Both Strange World and Wish had frustrating box office outings by Disney’s standards.

Moana Live-Action Movie

In addition to Moana 2, Disney is also working on a live-action version of the first Moana film. Dwayne Johnson is producing the live-action film and reprising his role as Maui. The role of Moana won’t be played by original star Auli’i Cravalho, though. A new actress will be taking over the role, but Cravalho is set to be an executive producer.

The live-action Moana is being directed by Hamilton‘s Thomas Kail. Original Moana writer Jared Bush wrote the new screenplay alongside Dana Ledoux Miller.

Are you excited for what Disney has in store for Moana? Let us know in the comments!