Disney<\/a>\u2019s first trailer for the live-action remake of Moana<\/a> is here \u2014 but the footage has left fans divided<\/a>.<\/p>\n Less than a decade after the original animated movie came out, the colorful first look teases Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson<\/a> reprising his role as demigod Maui and shows newcomer Catherine Laga\u2019aia as the titular character, replacing Auli\u02bbi Cravalho<\/a>, who voiced Moana in the 2016 film and the animated sequel<\/a>. <\/p>\n But the new trailer\u2019s saturated scenic views of Motunui<\/a> and nostalgic music weren\u2019t enough to erase one question from people\u2019s minds: Why?<\/p>\n \u201cWhy do we need a live action one????\u201d one person wrote under the trailer on YouTube, echoing hundreds of social media users questioning what prompted the live-action remake.<\/p>\n \u201cLook I hope it\u2019s good but I just don\u2019t understand the appeal of this. Like\u2026the water, all the creatures, and everything looks exactly like the animated film. What\u2019s the point? (Other than a billion dollars),\u201d another wrote, with someone else adding: \u201cIt looks kinda cool, but\u2026 did we really need this remake??\u201d<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n The first trailer for the \u2018Moana\u2019 live-action remake has been released (Disney) open image in gallery<\/p>\n Dwayne \u2018The Rock\u2019 Johnson will return as Maui in the live-action remake of \u2018Moana\u2019 (PA Archive)<\/p>\n Other social media users questioned why Disney would release a CGI-laden<\/a> remake so soon after the original movie. The movie will mark the tightest turnaround between an animated Disney film\u2019s original release and the live-action remake. Moana will not even be 10 years old when the new film hits theaters July 10, 2026. Plus, as fans pointed out, Moana 2<\/a> was just released November 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cComing out with a theatrical sequel last year and a live action remake two years later is crazy work,\u201d one critic wrote. Another commented: \u201cNever expected a live action remake THIS early.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMoana is only 10 years old, they literally JUST dropped the sequel\u2026so many shots in the trailer are CGI that it looks just like the animated version\u2026like, what are we doing!?!\u201d someone else slammed.<\/p>\n Aside from Johnson and Lag\u2019aia, John Tui is set to play Moana\u2019s father Chief Tui, while Frankie Adams will play Moana\u2019s mom Sina, and Rena Owen will be Gramma Tala. Lin-Manuel Miranda is producing the film after making the wildly popular music for the original movie, along with Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa\u02bbi.<\/p>\n Moana is the latest in Disney\u2019s series of live-action adaptations, which have largely been nearly identical to their original source. It joins recent remakes How to Train Your Dragon<\/a>, Lilo & Stitch<\/a>, and Snow White<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite complaints, Disney\u2019s business of remaking movies has proved to be extremely lucrative, <\/a>with its remake of How to Train Your Dragon <\/a>soaring in popularity this summer and Lilo & Stitch breaking box office records<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[77,3943,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-578524","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115571381459046176","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/G5-O05bbMAEUICQ.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Dwayne](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/781564d74e7e40ebe295046506a57ab1Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzUzNTE2NjIw-2.78299706.jpg\")
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