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A new trailer “Moana 2” was also presented at D23 2024. © Walt Disney
“Vaiana” will return to cinemas worldwide in 2024 and embark on another exciting adventure. At the Disney D23 trade fair, the company rode the wave of success and presented the official sequel trailer for “Vaiana 2” aka “Moana 2”.
Auli’i Cravalho will return in the fall, more precisely at the end of November 2024, as “Moana” or in some markets “Vaiana”, when the sequel to the animated hit from Walt Disney Animation Studios hits theaters. The official trailer for the sequel was released at D23, showing our heroes with familiar sounds and their sidekicks on a new big adventure. There is also a little sister (?!)…
On November 27, 2024, “Moana 2” (in some markets, including Germany again with the alternative name “Vaiana 2”) will be released in US cinemas, while the German cinema release is announced for November 28. The “Moana” live-action film with Dwayne Johnson as the flesh-and-blood Maui is also still scheduled to be released, and is currently planned for a cinema release on July 10, 2026 in the USA and probably in Germany at the same time.
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This is what is known so far about “Moana 2” aka “Vaiana 2”
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ animated musical Moana 2 reunites Moana (voice of Cravalho) and Maui (voice of Johnson) three years later for an expansive new voyage alongside a crew of unlikely seafarers. After receiving an unexpected call from her pioneering ancestors, Moana must journey to the distant seas of Oceania and dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike any she’s ever experienced.
Also returning are returning stars Rachel House (Moana’s grandmother Tala), Temuera Morrison (Moana’s father Chief Tui) and Nicole Scherzinger (Moana’s mother Sina), as well as the voices of Hualālai Chung, David Fane and Rose Matafeo as Moana’s new crew members Moni, Kele and Loto. Awhimai Fraser voices the mysterious new character Matangi, Gerald Ramsey plays Moana’s ancestor Tautai Vasa and Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda lends her voice to Moana’s adoring and adorable little sister Simea.
Dave Derrick Jr. is directing. Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, who are behind an unofficial Bridgerton musical, are providing the music this time together with Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina. Dwayne Johnson can be heard again as Maui and Alan Tudyk is also involved again. Here is our film review of “Vaina”.
The success story of “Moana”
“Moana” was nominated for two Oscars after its release in 2016 and grossed over 687 million US dollars worldwide, making it one of the most streamed animated films on Disney+. As Iger himself stated, the film was watched for more than a billion hours. Disney’s tactic is to produce more quality rather than quantity, and has recently had a number of flops and underperformers such as “Wish,” “The Marvels,” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” in theaters. That’s why sequels like this one and the two “Frozen” sequels aka “The Ice Queen” look like a sure bet, but whether the plan will work remains to be seen.
