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Credit: DisneyThe Walt Disney Company is known for a lot of things, and creating unforgettable princesses is one of them. From its first princess, Snow White, in 1937 to Cinderella in 1950, Aurora (AKA Sleeping Beauty) in 1959, Belle in 1992, Jasmine in 1992, Rapunzel in 2010, and more, Disney princesses are some of the most popular characters from the Mouse House.
In 2016, a new animated Disney movie was released featuring the company’s first Polynesian princess — Moana. The film was a major hit, with fans loving not only the new princess but also the incredible music courtesy of Lin Manuel Miranda.
Related: Live-Action ‘Moana’ Photos Leaked, and Fans Aren’t Loving Them
On November 27, Disney released the highly-anticipated and unexpected Moana 2. The film was originally supposed to be a Disney+ series, but after seeing the footage, Disney CEO Bob Iger felt that it deserved to be a full-length feature film. The film was announced in February 2024, and fans were thrilled that they only had to wait nine months to see it.
Unfortunately, unlike its predecessor, fans were not loving Moana 2. Critics and fans alike criticized the movie for its unoriginal storyline and its subpar music. It should be noted that Lin Manuel Miranda did not do the music for the second film.
The film was also criticized for feeling disjointed, which would make sense considering it was originally separate episodes that were then pieced together.
Related: The Success of ‘Moana 2’ Is Actually Pretty Problematic
Despite the overall negative reactions to the film, in just one month, Moana 2 has grossed more than $800 million at the global box office. While that is great for Disney, some fans are worried that it will have a negative impact on the future of Disney princesses.
Reddit user u/stacciatello wrote that they saw Moana 2, and while they didn’t think that it was as bad as some people said, they definitely thought it wasn’t as good as it could have been. However, because of how successful the sequel film performed, the OP (Original Poster) worried that it would encourage Disney to make average films with current princesses instead of taking a risk and creating new princesses.
I saw Moana 2 in theaters a couple days ago, and it was… a movie.
I’ve seen people call it an absolutely embarrassing trainwreck, and I don’t quite agree. I think it was slightly above mid, it had some cute moments and it really picked up towards the end. But there were a LOT of elements that weren’t explored properly, the story really suffered from clearly being a TV series plot squeezed into a single movie. Also, the music was mediocre at best across the board.
But regardless of my feelings for this movie, I’m especially concerned about the practices that went into releasing this into theaters. Think about this for a second, they re-tooled a Disney+ show into a theatrical release, they only slightly upgraded the animation, but the music and script were still very clearly at a way lower level than your typical big budget Disney production.
And yet… In only 3 days, this movie has almost grossed as much as “Wish” did in its entire theatrical run. Wish cost $200 million to make, whereas Moana 2 was made on a Disney+ budget. Sure, maybe they had to break the bank to get The Rock to come back, but besides that, they are essentially printing money.
All of that to say… If this movie ends up performing well, I fear that Disney will opt for just continuing to put out low effort sequels to their popular IP. And as it pertains to the Disney Princess franchise specifically, I fear that we might not get a NEW, ORIGINAL, GOOD Princess story in a long, long time, if ever again.
Hopefully I’m wrong and just overthinking, I would love nothing more than to see another Princess film on the level of The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast, or even Tangled and the first Moana. But with the current state of Disney’s latest releases and business practices, it’s looking pretty bleak.
P.S: Disney straight up falsely advertised Matangi lmao. She was the best part of the entire movie and got done so dirty.
'MOANA 2' and why I'm concerned for the future of the Princess franchise
byu/stacciatello indisneyprincess
Related: Who Was The REAL Winner In ‘Wicked’ vs ‘Moana 2’?
Many commenters agreed and even began speaking about the Princess and the Frog series that was supposed to be in production for Disney+. The series was first announced in 2020, and it was supposed to premiere in 2023, but it was then pushed back to 2024.
However, in the summer of 2024, Disney removed any mention of a release time frame. Since then, Disney has remained mum on the project, leading some to think it might not actually happen.
I have a feeling that Disney wanted to see how well Moana 2 did as a movie before deciding if the Tiana series should become a sequel movie as well, and that’s why we haven’t heard much else about it.
While Disney had appeared ready to move away from sequels, earlier this year, CEO Bob Iger said that the company was actually going to rely more on sequels, because of their proven success rate. Unfortunately, some fear that the sequels would not need to be great stories in order to make Disney a lot of money.
I agree. Sequels pull in audiences so that’s what they’ll make. And they’ll blame audiences for not liking original stories like Wish, although it’s their fault for not writing a good story or marketing it well.
And side note: I guess franchises are now allowed in the official Disney Princess lineup? Are Anna and Elsa official princesses now?
As the above commenter noted, Disney’s recent attempts at original storytelling have not been nearly as successful as its sequel films. Elemental hit theaters in June 2023, but failed to perform at the box office. However, the reviews were fantastic, so it was surprising that audiences were not interested in seeing it in theaters, instead waiting until it premiered on Disney+.
Then there was Wish, the animated film Disney created as part of the company’s 100th anniversary. Critics did not like the film at all, but fans were more forgiving.
Looking at the numbers, it makes sense that Disney would focus more on sequels than original stories if that’s what performs well. However, Disney fans are making it clear that they want Disney to make sure those sequels tell a good story. A great example of that would be Inside Out 2, which was released in June 2024.
Have you seen Moana 2? Do you agree with the Redditor? Does Disney not seem to care about the storyline of its sequels? Share your thoughts in the comments!