If you don't care to see this, that's totally fine. There are so many other movies to watch. No need to try to justify it thinking you might experience FOMO.

I saw it today in the late afternoon matinee. The audience was mostly families.

I thought it was once again beautifully animated and had some charm in spots. But, this one didn't feel as special as the original. There weren't really any catchy and notable songs like "You're Welcome" And it also felt like this was developed as a streaming/TV movie, which apparently it was. The story wasn't as compelling as the original. There was really no true "Villain" per se. I'd say if you have kids, then maybe take them to a matinee. If you don't have a family and were only a moderate fan of the original, I doubt you'll enjoy this.

There is a mid-credits scene that kind of teases potentially more to come. But, it's not a mandatory watch.

I'd give it maybe a B- I doubt I will watch it again anytime soon.

The movie is on track to make $215 million over the holiday weekend (Weds-Sun). So obviously the brand has fans, or parents just wanted to keep their kids and visiting families quiet and Wicked was too long. If nothing else, this should put to rest people doubting Rock's power to draw an audience.

Of course Moana has fans. After Frozen, it is probably the most beloved "Disney Animated Classic" of the 21st century. And while the Rock is obviously a big part of the film, I wouldn't take him off the hook just yet. Live action and animated is apples and oranges. This is also a case where the brand is bigger than the stars.

Yeah, I doubt most of the people buying tickets are going to see it because of the Rock.

Holy shit, massive opening weekend, much bigger than predicted

It shows how little reviews matter for sequels. Metacriitc score is an anemic 57.

I may check it out next weekend. I like to avoid crowds and kids and this weekend obviously wasn't the right time given that fact.

While I agree, the Hollywood pundits (and likely Johnson himself) are trying to spin it as such.
https://deadline.com/2024/11/box-off...-2-1236189647/

Since Johnson has told the world that his own daughter, who loved "Moana" and watched it over and over, had no idea her own father was the voice of Maui, and did not believe him when he told her, I think it is safe to say that Disney and the Moana story are the draw for audiences, and not who any of the voice performers are.

I mean there is a villain, but yeah it's largely setup which seems weird to me. I could tell just from listening to the soundtrack when it came out that they were really missing Lin-Manuel Miranda's input (or something) because almost every track was a take off of something from Moana 1. I have no idea how this would work as a direct to streaming movie though unless they weren't going to get the Rock back or something.

Still the kids loved it. Went to the El Capitan and everything.

There are a ton of Mcguffins as far as the plot's concerned but I'll give them a pass on that, I guess.

The one thing that did take me aback and made me feel old: the actress who plays Moana's sister is named Khaleesi.

Whoever pushed Disney to move this from a streaming TV series to a theatrical release is probably due a big raise this year. $389m WW opening weekend is crazy.

It's always interesting how they spin the numbers and the context;

Moana 2 opening weekend (2024) in US & Canada: $135 million (4,200 screens)

Frozen (2013) opening weekend in the US and Canada: $243 million (3,742 screens)



‘MOANA 2’ opens with $386M worldwide.

• Highest opening for an animated film worldwide (world-wide number of screens either not posted or I can't find it easily)

• Biggest Thanksgiving opening in the U.S. ever (true, but Frozen opened a week before 2013 Thanksgiving to much bigger numbers on fewer screens and not adjusted for inflation)

You're thinking Frozen 2.

Moana 2 made $135m in 3 days domestically
Frozen (2013) made $67.4m domestically on it's opening 3 days, unadjusted
Frozen 2 (2019) made $130.3m on its opening weekend prior to Thanksgiving, unadjusted/domestically.

Hmmmm... I guess that's a question for IMDB unless of course "opening weekend" is an open-ended interpretation?

That's $243,390. Not $243,390,000. Frozen had "Special engagements" in a single theater the weekend prior to opening wide.

Nowadays that would just get rolled into the opening day sum.


And before somebody inevitable chimes in, I like numbers dammit

Thanks for clarifying that as those numbers make more sense!

I'll probably watch Moana 2 again when it hits Disney+ and maybe do a back to back watch the original.

But, I didn't find it good enough to make another theatrical visit.