‘Moana 2’ rides a musical wave of Pacific culture and creativity | Hollywood

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Moana 2 celebrates Pan Pacific, Pan Polynesian culture

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Film is expected to earn $145 million over the Thanksgiving weekend

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New music by Grammy-winning duo Barlow and Bear

By Danielle Broadway

KOLEI, Hawaii, – For Auli’i Cravalho, returning to the Walt Disney sequel ‘Moana 2’ was a Hawaiian homecoming for both herself as an actress and for her character.

“Moana’s journey will take her very far, but also that growth means returning home and experiencing it with your community,” the Hawaiian native told Reuters.

“When we talk about community, the connection between all people across the Pacific, it feels like a celebration of the Pan Pacific, the Pan-Polynesian culture,” she added.

For the cast and creators of “Moana 2,” the project wasn’t just professional, it was personal.

“It feels so incredible that my growth as a person seems to parallel hers,” Cravalho said.

“Moana 2,” directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, opens on Wednesday.

Nielsen’s film research arm, the National Research Group, predicts “Moana 2” will bring in $145 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend.

The film follows wayfinder Moana, who receives a sudden call from her wayfinding ancestors to travel the seas and break the curse of the god Nalo, which prevents the people of various islands from reconnecting.

She forms her own crew, which reunites her with the demigod Maui, played by Dwayne Johnson.

The music for the first “Moana” was written by “Encanto” songwriter Lin Manuel Miranda, while the sequel introduces the songwriting duo of Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear.

The duo, who rose to prominence on TikTok, won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical,” attracting a lawsuit from Netflix. It also created an opportunity to take over the songs for the sequel.

While they wanted to “pay homage to the beautiful world” of the first “Moana” with the music, they also aimed to add their own “flair to it.”

Part of the flair for the entire film was figuring out how to add even more Pacific Islander culture within every aspect of the sequel, which was key for the trio of directors.

“I think it’s so special that we get to celebrate the Pacific in these movies and that we get a heroine who’s just so compelling and empathetic and amazing and weird and silly,” Ledoux Miller said.

“I think we can see a little bit of ourselves in her,” added the Samoan director, noting that many Pacific Islander communities share the same values ​​of family and togetherness that Moana does.

For the directors, it was about going on “new adventures with old friends” and finding the balance between familiarity and something completely new.

The film is highly anticipated after Disney’s second animated sequel from 2024 “Inside Out 2” crossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office in less than three weeks after its release, reaching that level in the fastest time of any animated film in history.

The first “Moana” also found box office success, topping 2016 box office numbers by earning $81.1 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday and $55.5 million for the weekend.

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