Sailing into theaters: Disney’s live action remake of Moana (2016)
The new version of this well-loved film could hook audiences even larger than Maui’s hook fit for a demigod
Photo courtesy of Eva Rinaldi/Wikimedia Commons
Moana, Maui, and of course, the lovable rooster, Heihei captured Disney fans’ hearts when the film, Moana (2016), first released in theaters. The film won Top Box Office Film in 2017 at the ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards, as well as the 2018 Grammy for Best Written Song for Visual Media with its song, “How Far I’ll Go,” as detailed by IMDb.
This summer, starting Jul. 10, 2026, movie-goers will have a chance to fall in love with Moana’s adventure once again, when Disney releases its live action version of the film, as announced in the upcoming film’s trailer posted on Disney’s official YouTube account. The live action imagination of the classic Disney movie will be “directed by Emmy and Tony Award winner Thomas Kail (‘Hamilton (2020)’); produced by Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Beau Flynn, Hiram Garcia and Lin-Manuel Miranda; and executive produced by Kail, Scott Sheldon, Charles Newirth and Auliʻi Cravalho, who voiced Moana in the animated films ‘Moana (2016)’ and ‘Moana 2 (2024),’ according to Disney’s description of the film’s trailer.
Exciting for Moana (2016) fans—beyond getting to see this island story re-imagined in live action—is the opportunity to meet a new, passionate actress. “Catherine Laga’aia, a 17-year-old Australian actor of Samoan heritage, is stepping in to the leading role of Moana,” TODAY reports. Viewers got their first look at Laga’aia in the new live action Moana trailer advertising the upcoming film, as she was seen “dressed in Moana's legendary outfit, accessorized with a flower in her hair and her heart of Te Fiti necklace.”
In an era of movies where casting has been often scrutinized by fans online, the casting of Catherine Laga’aia as Moana seems to be promising and uplifting. “I’m truly honored to pass this baton to the next young woman of Pacific Island descent to honor our incredible Pacific peoples, cultures, and communities that help inspire [Moana’s] story, and I look forward to all the beautiful Pacific representation to come,” said Auli’i Cravalho, via Instagram post, who voiced Moana in the original 2016 film.
In a Disney press release about the upcoming live action remake of the movie, Catherine Laga’aia thankfully accepted her new role, saying, “I’m really excited to embrace this character because Moana is one of my favorites… My grandfather comes from Fa‘aala, Palauli, in Savai‘i. And my grandmother is from Leulumoega Tuai on the main island of ‘Upolu in Samoa. I’m honored to have an opportunity to celebrate Samoa and all Pacific Island peoples, and to represent young girls who look like me.”
While Laga’aia may be a new breakout actress featuring in the film, long-time movie star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will play the role of demigod Maui, after voice acting the character in the original Moana (2016) and Moana 2 (2024), as reported by Entertainment Weekly. Although fans were not initially thrilled with his appearance in the movie’s trailer, especially after seeing him with a long, curly wig—with some calling it names such as, “the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen,” as documented by Variety—the role is meaningful to Johnson.
He told Entertainment Weekly about his own connections to the movie’s representation of Polynesian culture. His father was a Samoan wrestler; “Even in the world of professional wrestling at that time in the '70s [it] was a subculture that was not covered at all by media… it was looked down on by the majority. Yet, anytime he had some sort of recognition, even a crumb of it, it was like, yes, that's our culture,” the actor explained. Johnson continued to reflect on the barriers his own father broke and how he feels he is pioneering his own path with his appearance in the live action production Moana (2026). While looking back at the barriers his father broke, “to Moana and this story that has really been globally embraced in this moving way… [and] something that is so emboldening and empowering to kids and adults, because it's this idea of looking beyond the reef that you can't see, and life gets scary and sometimes you gotta take risks and hold onto faith while you do it,” Johnson explained, “[...]that's why I feel this really special connection and pride and then gratitude to be here.”
While Disney fans have a few more months to wait and see how far this new imagination of Moana’s story will take them, they have no need to lower their expectations. E! News has reported that the original, animated Moana (2016) was “2023’s most-streamed movie,” so it is safe to expect that the live action story will make waves this summer.