In 2022, Bob Iger said cinemas would never again be ‘going to the level they were at pre-pandemic’, and that only select films would go to cinemas with many being released straight to Disney's streaming platform, Disney +. And at the time, everyone nodded in agreement.
Fast-forward to 2024, and things look different. In hindsight, we can see that Disney could have easily traded a billion-dollar grossing movie for a Disney + miniseries that might have made a splash for a week, then quickly sunk under the waves.
The story of Moana 2 is interesting because it highlights how Hollywood's perspective has shifted, but also the influence of Disney + on Iger’s decision to plot a new course and green-light Moana 2.
Iger’s decision to pivot from Moana, the animated series, to Moana 2, the movie, is absolutely vindicated. It was a commercial masterstroke. The movie has some creative issues, but the original film is so cherished that the sequel can ride that wave of love right to the shore. Despite the film's limitations, I don’t think it will damage the affection for the franchise, and Disney can fix any of these story problems in the third movie (which is happening, have no doubt).
Here's a couple of thoughts on the genesis of this movie and its lasting impact on the way Disney operates.
The decision to shift from Moana, the Disney + series to Moana 2 was partly driven by the original movie's extraordinary popularity on the platform. Unlike when Disney sold their movies on DVD, where they had no real way of knowing how often a film was watched, Disney + can track every single time a viewer watches a movie, and the audience was watching Moana, a lot. According to The Wall Street Journal, it has been viewed "for a total of more than 1 billion hours which amounts to one person sitting through the movie 775 million times. Or watching Moana for 150,000 years straight".
The studio animating the sequel was Disney's Vancouver-based animation studio, rather than the normal Burbank team (contradicting previous reports that Burbank would remain “Walt Disney Animation Studios’s exclusive hub for feature film projects.”) The Vancouver studio would have been significantly cheaper (it was reportedly conceived as a cost-effective way to “focus on long-form series and special projects for Disney+.") and since it is hard to argue this negatively impacted the box office, it will inevitably feed into future decisions.
What did I think about the film itself?
The movie is fun and hugely enjoyable, capturing the charm of the first movie. It's great to be back in Moana's world, we've missed it. However, you can sort of feel that the story was originally intended to be told as a series rather than a film. There's one story arc, but the rhythm feels episodic. The villain stays in the background, in a way that works better for a series than a movie. There's a lack of character development, which again can work in a series, and even be a good thing, but feels missing from a film. Likewise, the overall narrative builds in a series of small waves rather than rising to one big crescendo.
A lot has been written about Lin Manuel Miranda not writing the music for the sequel, and you do feel that lack, but another element missing is the Polynesian influence and flavour. The songs don’t propel the narrative forward or express the characters' inner longings as successfully as in the first one. There’s no equivalent to ‘How Far I’ll Go’, “You’re Welcome” or “We Know The Way”.
But saying all that, the film's Box Office is its own defense. And it's one that is hard to argue against. When Moana 2 comes to Disney+, they will be able to see if the sequel is as rewatchable as the original, and there's plenty of opportunity for Disney to apply any learnings to the third installment.
As William Goldman famously said about Hollywood, nobody knows anything. They thought everyone needed to be all in on streaming and that cinema was over. They got that wrong. However, it’s not survival of the fittest, but survival of the most adaptable. Disney’s original plan of putting all their eggs in the streaming basket didn't pan out as predicted, so they adapted. Perhaps, they'll find themselves heading towards a better destination than they expected.
The Disney Fly Wheel has evolved to include both cinema and streaming. Far from being dead, cinemas are still major part of the Disney operation, while Disney+ provides audience data that helps inform which movies they green light. Theatrical and streaming aren't competing with each other, but are two key pieces in Disney's toolkit. Now, if their ambition is to create a unified payment eco-system, across cinema, streaming, stores, parks, and online, similar to Amazon Prime then Disney would be in a very powerful position.
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