After a rocky few years, “Moana 2” will officially usher in Disney's new era of animation by tapping into a sequel trend

One of the most anticipated films to be released in 2024 is Moana 2the sequel to Disney Animation Studios' 2016 hit Moana.Moana 2 features the same great cast as the first film and tells a brand new story that is shaping up to be a huge hit for Disney. After some trailers were released, Moana 2 is already turning heads, and in a year that has been flooded with great animation projects, Moana 2 It seems like this trend is only going to continue.

However, this film is not just the sequel to the 2016 Disney hit Moana 2 changes the way Disney Animation Studios operates and marks the beginning of a new era for the classic company. As a studio that has been around for almost a hundred years, they have worked in a very similar way for most of their existence, and only now, With the changes in the media landscape in recent years, their strategy seems to be fundamentally changingAnd Moana 2 is just the beginning.

“Moana 2” is the start of Disney’s new sequel trend

Their upcoming slate offers more of the same

Moana 2 is one of the few sequel films from Disney and joins the series Ralph is breaking the internet And Frozen 2 as direct cinematic Disney sequels. While Disney has historically released its films as one-off explorations of entirely new worlds and characters, the upcoming release seems to suggest that this will change. With her next two films Zootopia 2 And Frozen 3, Disney seems to be trying to go in a more sequel and franchise focused directionby continuing the stories of some of their most popular projects rather than creating brand new IP.

Disney's push for sequels seems to be due to the huge, record-breaking success of Frozen 2which grossed $1.462 billion, surpassing the original FrozenThe film cost $1.306 billion and is still the highest-grossing animated film of all time Inside Out 2. Apparently Disney wants to keep making money Frozen 3, and they position themselves Zootopia 2 to emulate the success of the original's $1.023 billion box office gross. Moana was a somewhat weaker success, grossing $687 million with Moana 2the result of Disney's new sequel experiments becomes clearer.

“Moana 2” has the potential to be a huge success

Sequels to popular animated films are here

2024 has been a pretty crazy year for animated films, with numerous releases being ranked among the biggest films of the year. Inside Out 2 became the highest-grossing animated film of all time with a record-breaking $1.673 billion. Despicable Me 4 continued the franchise's success with $961 million, Kung Fu Panda 4 brought the franchise over the $2 billion mark, The Garfield movie was a success, and The wild robot done enough to warrant a sequel. 2024 was a record year for animated filmsand it seems unlikely that success will stall.

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Disney is certainly already preparing for Moana 3 with a new Moana 2 character

Introducing a key character in Moana 2 seems to be Disney's way of setting up Moana 3 and continuing the story in a new, yet still familiar, way.

Given Moana 2 Despite all these successes, even though the film will be released in theaters in a year, it seems almost impossible that the film cannot withstand them. With the unfortunate exception of Transformers One All of these major studio animated films have done very well at the box office, and the top four have one thing in common: They are all sequels or parts of a huge franchise. Moana was loved upon its release and has become a modern classic in the years since Moana 2 It seems like it's the surefire hit that Disney needs.

Disney Animation Studios has had a tough few years

Her recent projects haven't moved the needle

Despite the Walt Disney Company's recent great successes, Disney Animation Studios itself has found itself in a difficult position in recent years. Just one of the company's projects after the great success of Frozen 2 could do a lot, and Encanto would probably still be considered a moderate successwhich didn't make much in its initial theatrical release, although the streaming release did Encanto the success it deserves.

However, Encanto has been the studio's only bright spot for four years. Raya and the Last Dragon The reviews were pretty solid, but it performed worse at the box office since the film was released at the same time on Disney+. Strange world massively bombed despite a decent review, and Wish neither reviewed well nor performed well at the box office. Given these recent problems, it seems understandable that Disney is banking on sequels for its upcoming films, and the result of that Moana 2 will certainly shed light on the company's future path.

Moana 2 is the sequel to the 2016 animated film Moana. Directed by David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, the film continues the journey of Moana as she embarks on new adventures across the vast Pacific Explore the ocean and meet new characters and challenges.

director

David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller

Release date

November 27, 2024

Pour

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