Disney used to heavily rely on turning its beloved classic cartoons into live-action films, but they quickly started to exhaust their options. After remaking most of their older animated movies, they now have to reboot films that aren’t even that old, and are sometimes still getting new animated sequels. Even with this challenge, Disney is expected to continue with this strategy.
Disney just dropped the full trailer for its live-action version of Moana, the latest in a string of remakes of their classic animated films. This remake is coming remarkably quickly after the original Moana debuted! The trailer shows Disney has put a lot of effort into faithfully recreating the beloved story in live-action, and fans can expect to hear familiar, popular songs. It also gives us a first look at how the characters will appear in the new film, which arrives in July. You can watch the trailer below!
New Disney’s Moana Trailer Brings Animated Classic to Life
Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of Moana represents a change in strategy. Previously, Disney primarily chose animated films that hadn’t had sequels or further development for remakes – films like Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King were hugely successful, earning over a billion dollars worldwide. However, after remaking these older titles, Disney began looking at more recent animated movies. Some wondered if these newer remakes would be as popular, as they hadn’t benefited from decades of nostalgia. Moana is expected to show that Disney can successfully remake even its more recent animated hits.
It’s been ten years since the first Moana movie came out and earned over $600 million worldwide, establishing a beloved franchise for Disney. The recent sequel, released in 2024, was even more successful, earning over $1 billion globally. This success, combined with the fact that last year’s live-action Lilo & Stitch became a massive hit—grossing over $1 billion and becoming Disney’s biggest surprise of the summer—strongly suggests the new Moana movie will be a huge box office success. A sequel to Lilo & Stitch is already planned for 2028, further demonstrating the popularity of these revitalized Disney properties.
A key factor in Lilo & Stitch‘s success was a lack of competition when it was released. Moana will have a small hurdle to overcome, debuting just nine days after the new Minions film, but it should have a clear run for the rest of July. Even with a new Spider-Man movie coming out at the end of the month – especially if it’s as serious in tone as the trailer suggests – Moana shouldn’t face significant competition.
Disney’s latest movie looks set to follow the winning formula of their live-action remakes. It also suggests the studio is planning to revisit and remake popular animated films from the 2010s. A live-action version of Tangled is already in development, and fans can likely expect other films from that era, such as Frozen, to receive the same treatment. With the continued success of both the animated and live-action versions of Moana, Disney may decide to remake its biggest hit from the last 15 years in a similar way.
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2026-03-23 19:42