With the SAG-AFTRA strikes finally lifted and actors leaving the picket lines to go back to work, many new announcements have been made in the last few days. One of them was Dwayne Johnson’s live-action remake of the animated hit Moana. The musical film was based on Polynesian myths and starred Johnson as the demigod Maui.
However, Johnson’s announcement of the film did not go down well with fans, who criticized the ongoing trend of Disney’s live-action remakes of classic animated films. The main criticism came for Moana, which was released in 2016 and has not even crossed a decade to be remade.
Dwayne Johnson Announced A Live-Action Remake Of Moana
Dwayne Johnson was last seen in the disastrous DC superhero film Black Adam and had not announced any other films due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes. However, the strikes ended earlier this week with a tentative deal struck between the big studios and the union. With that, Johnson announced that he would be next starring in the live-action remake Moana.
Moana was released in 2016 and followed the story of the titular Moana, a resident of the coastal village who embarks on an adventure to save her people from a blight by finding the demigod Maui. The musical animated film starred the voices of Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, and Jemaine Clement. The film had original songs composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
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In an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Dwayne Johnson spoke about his return to WWE SmackDown and starring in the Moana remake. The actor revealed that Lin-Manuel Miranda would be returning to compose songs for the film. Johnson said,
“My next project that I will be shooting is a live-action version of Moana…I am the real-life Maui…It’s a way to pay homage to not only my Polynesian heritage and culture…it’s also such an incredible story that resonates with everybody around the world.”
The actor also revealed that Hamilton director Thomas Kail was tapped to be the director. He then broke out into a rendition of ‘You’re Welcome’ from the original film.
Fans Are Tired Of Disney’s Live-Action Remakes
While Dwayne Johnson’s announcement was met with cheers at the talk show, it drew collective groans from netizens who are tired of the trend that Disney has been following for the past decade. The studio has been giving the live-action treatment to many of its classic stories and the gap between the original and the remake seems to be getting smaller.
It started with the remake of Cinderella, which proved to be successful and prompted the studio to continue to develop multiple remakes of classic animated films to fluctuating successes. Films like Jungle Book, The Lion King, Dumbo, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, and more. Its most recent was the polarizing The Little Mermaid.
The studio reportedly has more such remakes in the pipeline such as Robin Hood, Snow White, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Hercules being a few of them. It has now added Dwayne Johnson’s Moana remake to its slate, which makes it the shortest time gap between an original and a remake. And fans are annoyed with this trend.
Do we really need a live action?
— MichēI (@michelmikey17) November 14, 2023
Another live action remake pic.twitter.com/7J7tP0zFQc
— Shravan (@Shravan2487) November 14, 2023
Still feel like it’s too soon for a live action remake.
— Victory Reviews (@Vyreviews94) November 14, 2023
Good that’s his level as an actor, he may not get any serious role
— ProudlyFC😘🦅🛡🛡🛡 (@Lyndaiwuagwu) November 14, 2023
It hasn’t even been a decade
— Society (@Society25864498) November 14, 2023
Someone stop this PLEASE pic.twitter.com/W5fjBUHhlQ
— Kamii___ (@mariusb40c) November 14, 2023
Despite a lukewarm reception from the audience, Disney seems to still want to capitalize on its most precious IPs and is not stopping the live-action remake train anytime soon.
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