The Rock has an update on live action remake of Disney favourite

Moana is getting a live action remake over at Disney, and no less than Dwayne Johnson has piped up with an update on it, over on social media.

Johnson posted on Instagram "production begins this fall" on the Moana remake. The film was announced in 2023, and joins Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid as part of a cadre of Disney classics given the live action treatment.

There was much more to Johnson’s Instagram post than just that little production titbit, though.

He also posted a video of him recording “scratch" vocals. These are vocal lines used as a reference or guide, not the recording to be used in the final result.

In a refreshing change to the usual heavily auto-tuned social media norm, we get to hear Johnson reach for, and not quite hit, some of the notes.

We already knew Johnson can provide the goods, though, as he played Maui in the original 2016 version of Moana. He will reprise the role of the demigod Maui in this live action version too.

There’s a while to wait for this film, though. Moana is currently scheduled for a July 2026 release, having been pushed back from a June 2025 release in April 2024.

Moana has a busy couple of years ahead still. Moana 2, an animated movie just like the original, is due in cinemas on November 29 2024.

Disney posted a short "first look” teaser trailer for the film on YouTube earlier this year:

Moana 2 was originally intended to be a TV show, one announced in 2020, but was remoulded into a film.

Variety has suggested this is down to a mercenary calculation on Disney’s part, that making movies that play in theatres is more profitable than trying to make content to get us all subscribed to Disney Plus.

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