(Jesse Grant via Getty Images for Disney)
Dwayne ‘’The Rock’’ Johnson recently announced that he was partnering with Walt Disney Studios and will be bringing to life the story of ‘’Moana’’ to the big screen once again. This time it would be in a live-action format expected to be released in June.
He released a pre-recorded video announcement that was initially featured in Disney’s annual shareholder meeting conducted by CEO Bob Iger. The video showcases the action star with his two young daughters in Hawaii with scenes of the beautiful landscape of Oahu.
This announcement came across as a surprise to many Disney fans who expressed their confusion of the live-action take so soon for a film that hasn’t been released even a decade since its release while other live-action version of the Disney Princess films range between 65 years for “Cinderella” to 22 for “Mulan”. The original release of “Moana” will mark seven years this November. There are several more films in Disney’s live-action remake roster which is causing fatigue. One would think that using their pattern that “The Princess and the Frog” would have been next, but many theories based around the performance of “Black Adam” and Dwayne Johnson’s failed takeover of DC have been said by some on Twitter.
The original animated film debuted during the 2016 Thanksgiving weekend and instantly became a classic with a infectiously catchy soundtrack of songs curated by Lin-Manuel Mirando while simultaneously working on Broadway in Tony-Award winning musical “Hamilton.” Miranda created a lasting partnership with Disney from that film on and finished working on their latest live-action adaptation, “The Little Mermaid,” writing four new songs and co-producing the film. It is unclear whether Mirand will return for the Moana live-action to update the soundtrack at this time.
This is generating debates on whether the medium of animation is valued in cinema today, as each remake is announced it is perceived as if animation is only a launching pad for a live-action tale in the future.