Disney’s Moana Sequel Sets High Expectations

Moana 2, set for release over the Thanksgiving weekend, has the potential to become Disney’s highest-grossing release of all time.

The Big Picture: While 2016’s Moana was a hit, it was nowhere near the runaway success of other Disney animated titles. But streaming (especially on Disney+) turned the movie into an enduring cultural juggernaut, showing the power of families watching it repeatedly with their kids during the pandemic.

Behind The Scenes: At one point, Moana 2 was set to be a streaming series until a last-minute suggestion by Disney film chief Alan Bergman changed its course, per Bloomberg.

• Moana has been streamed for 80 billion minutes — the equivalent of watching the movie in its entirety 748 million times — ranking it as one of the top four most-watched films on any streaming service every year since its release.
• Additionally, the soundtrack by Lin-Manuel Miranda has sold 5.6 million copies — more than Disney’s Encanto and Coco.
• Ticketing service Fandango reported that first-day ticket presales for Moana 2 are already higher than that of Inside Out 2 — the highest-grossing movie of the year and the highest-grossing animated movie of all time ($1.7 billion at the box office).
• Box office tracking indicates that Moana 2 could open to $135 million in just the US and Canada — much higher than the original’s $82 million.

Closing Credits: The first Moana made $643 million at the global box office and was nominated for two Academy Awards — good outcomes for Disney, but not ones that indicate its follow-up could be the biggest animated movie ever. AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron already thinks it could beat out the total gross of Inside Out 2. If the hype is to be believed, Moana 2 could be the first animated movie to break $2 billion at the box office — a feat only achieved by five other movies.