Disney's live-action Moana opens in theaters on 10 July 2026, 55 days from now, positioned ahead of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and Sony's Spider-Man: Brand New Day later in the summer.
The film is a test of whether a Lin-Manuel Miranda musical can survive the jump from animation to live action: Miranda returns to write new material, and Hamilton director Thomas Kail takes over from the animation team.
Catherine Laga'aia takes the title role in place of Auli'i Cravalho's voice performance, with Dwayne Johnson reprising Maui in the flesh rather than motion capture. The footage released so far leans on real ocean cinematography and practical costuming rather than the animated original's stylization, giving the film's musical sequences a grounded, physically staged look distinct from its source.
This remake arrives as one of the year's most closely watched live-action-from-animation tests, alongside Disney's continuing run of similar remakes. Reworking a Miranda-scored musical for live performance carries specific risk: the songs were built around animated timing and vocal performance, and how Laga'aia's live singing translates that energy is the single biggest open question the trailers raise without answering.
Confirmed: the 10 July release date, Laga'aia and Johnson's casting, Kail directing with Miranda returning to write new material. Unconfirmed: how audiences and critics will respond to the tonal shift from animated fantasy to live-action grounding, and whether the new songs match the original soundtrack's popularity.
