The self-proclaimed “greatest demi-god of all the Pacific Islands” is back in action, but Maui’s looking awfully different from the last time audiences saw him in “Moana.” The animated movie instantly became a box office hit upon release in 2016, though it’s taken quite a while for Disney to figure out what to do with the titular character and her overall storyline next. That surprising amount of hesitance led to the studio scrapping its plans for a streaming series and instead retrofitting the show into a feature-length sequel with the upcoming “Moana 2.” However, that’s not the only high-profile project currently in the works.
Following the pattern set by a myriad of live-action remakes of Disney animated classics (not to mention the recent trailer debut of “How to Train Your Dragon”), moviegoers can now expect a live-action “Moana” to hit theaters relatively soon … and we’ve already received our first unofficial taste of what it’ll look like. The role of the titular character has since been recast with Catherine Laga’aia stepping into the shoes of original voice actor Auli’i Cravalho, but Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is back to reprise his voice performance as the mischievous demi-god Maui. As the film is currently filming on location, we’re still a long way off from seeing any official stills of the remake.
However, thanks to set photos currently making the rounds on social media — which, unfortunately, we can only link to in this article — fans can catch a glimpse of The Rock as live-action Maui in the flesh! We’ll break it all down for the people below.
The Rock returns as Maui for the Moana live-action remake
What can I say except you’re welcome! It’s starting to feel like 2016 all over again, for better or worse, as “Moana” fever is currently sweeping the internet. Set photos posted by the Cosmic Media fan account on X (formerly known as Twitter) have revealed our first, admittedly grainy look at The Rock filming a scene fully in character as Maui … and, yup, he definitely looks like The Rock! He’s sporting the exact same outfit as Maui does in the animated movie, which means fans will instantly recognize that skirt made up of leaves and those distinctive tribal tattoos on his otherwise completely bare chest. And for the Troy Polamalu fans among us (or, at least, those of us who still remember the NFL athlete’s luscious locks on display in those shampoo commercials), rest assured that Maui’s excessively curly hair has been faithfully recreated in live action, as well.
These visuals are to be expected, of course, but the larger question remains: Why? By now, Disney has perfected their formula of beat-for-beat remakes of movies everyone knows and loves, so it was probably only a matter of time before this same approach ended up affecting “Moana,” one of the studio’s most reliable cash cows (as early tracking on “Moana 2” certainly indicates). But aside from the creative concerns of remaking a popular movie that’s hardly eight years old, perhaps the more pressing concern has to do with short-circuiting their own momentum with the impending release of the animated “Moana 2” to dive right back into the safe, nostalgic waters of a remake. If that performs as stockholders surely expect it to, will that lead to a live-action sequel (or perhaps even a prequel, as Disney is doing with “The Lion King: Mufasa”)? Will the Mouse House have two competing “Moana” franchises on its hands at the exact same time?
Maybe those are bigger questions for another day. For now, how do you feel about our first look at the “Moana” remake? The new film is set to hit theaters on July 10, 2026, while the animated “Moana 2” will land just in time for Thanksgiving on November 27, 2024.