I think I speak for everyone when I say that 2023 was not a good year for the house of mouse. Especially considering that was their big 100 year anniversary. Aside from "Elemental" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3", volume three almost all of their movies, have flopped at the box office. Quite possibly the most humiliating failure was Disney Animations "Wish", which was supposed to be celebrating a century of storytelling. Unfortunately it got trashed by critics, got a mixed response from fans, and it grossed $243 million on a $200 million budget. After a string of failures, a lot of people have been wondering how Disney Animation can bounce back from this. Well they got their answer on February 7th, as the studio announced their newest feature to be released in November, which, as it turns out is a sequel to "Moana". Now this caught everyone off guard, including yours truly. While I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out, I have some concerns with this announcement. Why you ask? Well here’s why.
The Former Streaming Show
Back in December 2020, Disney announced their then, upcoming slate of movies, and shows for Disney+. Among those announcements was the one for a show about Moana. Naturally fans were very excited for this announcement as it meant more adventures with our favorite characters. But with the recent announcement, it turns out that the show is getting retooled to a full on sequel. Naturally this set off a red flag for some fans as they were reminded on Disney’s previous attempts at trying to piece together episodes from a cancelled show into a film. Most notably “Atlantis: Milo’s Return” and “Belle’s Magical World”. The poor quality of these Frankensteinian films still lingers in the memories of Disney fans and now the fear is we could get something like those on the big screen.
Not helping matters is the announcement that both Auhlili Cravhalo and Dwayne Johnson (Moana and Maui respectively) are apparently still in talks to reprise their roles. I should also mention that Lin Manuel-Miranda is not coming back to write the songs for this film either. And since the film is due out in November that kind of news is anything but reassuring.
One thing that really concerns me about the announcement is how the animators will be treated. Anybody that follows the stories of people who work in animation, visual effects, or gaming knows that one of the worst things somebody can be subject to is crunch time. The average time it takes to complete a computer animated film is about four years. Now apparently this project began production in 2022 when it was still a show and as stated before, this is due out this November. Another thing that should be noted is that this will be the first feature length film to be made at the Vancouver branch of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Needless to say the people at this new studio have a big task ahead of them as they are in charge of continuing the story of one of the most popular Disney films in recent memory.
But in spite of all the things that concern me about the announcement of Moana 2, there is hope that the project can turn out great. There was another Disney owned film that had a rushed production and ultimately became what many consider to be one of the greatest sequels ever made. That movie that you're wondering about? It's none other than Pixars "Toy Story 2".
So as far as the making of Moana's next adventure goes, I can only hope for the best. But there's another reason why Disney decided to change course from show to movie.
Trying To Retrain Audiences
As the 2020s would progress, Disney+ would end up being detriment to Disney’s animated films in terms of box office as we all know Pixar‘s soul would end up going straight to Disney+ instead of theaters, though that decision was 100% justified due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Pixar‘s Luca would also be sent straight to Disney+ due to the pandemic but when Pixar’s “Turning Red” got sent straight to streaming in 2022, that’s when fans cried foul. The Pixar film that did go to theaters that year was "Lightyear". Disney thought that a spin-off to one of Pixars most beloved franchises would be a guaranteed hit but reality had other plans as the film got a mixed to negative response from critics and bombed at the box office. Some other animated releases that would be affected by this would be "Raya and the Last Dragon", "Encanto", and "Elemental". Now while "Encanto" ended up taking the world by storm thanks to Disney+ and "Elemental" ended up having legs to ultimately become a box office success, the fact of the matter is that the box office numbers for these films are a far cry from the pre-pandemic days.
Because of previous Disney CEO Bob Chapek's decision to send 3 of Pixars films straight to streaming this caused a shift in viewing habits for audiences as they now want to wait until a movie hits streaming in order to see it rather than see it in theaters. So now Disney is trying to get audiences viewing habits back to the way things were by putting out more tentpole films to attract audiences to theaters. And since the original animated films haven't been doing too well, Disney naturally is going back to what worked before. There has also been a noticeably larger window from when films get released in theaters before going to streaming. Heck, as I'm writing this "Wish" still has yet to come to Disney+. So Disney has probably figured out that Disney+ is cannibalizing their brand, and they believe that going back to the well is a quick way to set things right.
Conclusion
Will this along with the sequels to "Frozen" and "Zootopia" bring Disney Animation out of the rut that they are currently in? Time will tell. While this movie having a short production compared to previous animated films worries me there is a chance it could turn out to be a worthy successor to the original. I just hope everyone at Disney Animation puts their best foot forward and are not overworked. But what are your thoughts on the announcement of "Moana 2"? Are you excited, annoyed, worried? Feel free to let me know in the comments.
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