The Walt Disney Company Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger announced today that Moana 2, Disney Animation’s new feature-length sequel to 2016’s Oscar-nominated film, will be released in theaters on Nov. 27, 2024. “Moana remains an incredibly popular franchise,” said Iger, “and we can’t wait to give you more of Moana and Maui when Moana 2 comes to theaters this November.”
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ epic animated musical Moana 2 will take audiences on an expansive new voyage with Moana, Maui and a brand-new crew of unlikely seafarers. After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced.
The sequel will be directed by Dave Derrick Jr., an animation veteran who was a storyboard artist on the original Moana feature, as well as Megamind, Rise of the Guardians, The Lion King (2019), Raya and the Last Dragon and Encanto and head of story on Strange World. Moana 2 will feature music by Grammy winners Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Grammy nominee Opetaia Foa’i, and three-time Grammy winner Mark Mancina.
The original Moana movie was directed by John Musker and John Clements (Aladdin, The Princess and the Frog) and co-directed by Chris Williams and Don Hall, and produced by Osnat Shurer with a screenplay by Jared Bush. The acclaimed pic was released on Nov. 23, 2016 and went on to gross $248.7 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $442.1 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $690.8 million. A live-action version of the movie is also in the works, slated for June 2025.
In addition, during Disney’s first-quarter earnings call, Iger mentioned the the studio is planning to release Zootopia 2 in cinemas during Thanksgiving break on Nov. 26, 2025. The first movie, directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore, was released in 2016 and won the Best Animated feature Oscar in 2017.
Disney also announced today that it is investing a $1.5 billion into Epic Games to create a new “games and entertainment universe” that brings Disney characters from franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar and Avatar together. The new experience will be interoperable with Fortnite and powered by Epic’s Unreal Engine. Iger said the project is “a huge Disney universe that will be for gaming and for play, and for watching and even for shopping for digital goods, and maybe ultimately physical goods that will live alongside Fortnite, but be completely interconnected with Fortnite.”
Check out the Moana 2 announcement clip below:
