Moana 2 creators promise film will be ‘way bigger’ than original

The creators of Moana 2 said they are “blowing the doors off” the hit original film, promising a wealth of new characters and an “incredible new tapestry of songs”.

The Oscar-nominated original musical was released in 2016 and followed Moana, voiced by Auli’i Cravalho, who embarked on a journey alongside tattooed demigod Maui – played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

The actors appeared at the Honda Centre in Anaheim for Disney’s biennial fan convention, D23, to share the trailer – which sees their characters reunite three years after the first film was set for an “expansive new voyage”.

Jared Bush, who wrote Moana and its sequel, said: “This movie is way bigger than the first film.

“There’s so much more to tell in Moana’s and Maui’s story, along with this whole new crew that comes along.

“We have an incredible new tapestry of songs that tell the story – emotion, funny songs, a new Maui song, which is absolutely bonkers incredible.

“And then we have this incredible antagonist that is this incredible storm that you saw hinted at in our trailer…it’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen.

“Our team is just blowing the doors off for everybody here and we’re having a blast doing it.”

Mr Bush promised fans “you will not be disappointed” during a D23 panel alongside the film’s creators.

“We are making things that look better than the original film, which is the highest bar ever,” he said.

Writer and director Dana Ledoux Miller also told fans they should expect to laugh and weep during the film.

“You’re going to see Maui in a way you’ve never seen Maui before, and I don’t think you’re prepared for what we are doing,” she teased, while Mr Bush said Maui goes on a “little personal journey of his own”.

Johnson previously promised fans that “Maui is singing again” in the sequel, following his hit performance on track You’re Welcome from the original.

However, Mr Bush did describe the difficulty of creating a sequel.

“For me, being able to come back into this world (and) continue the story, is a big challenge.

“To be honest, there’s not a lot of sequels to musicals, and the reason for that is usually in a musical, your main character has a dream, sings about that dream and accomplishes something and you end that story at the end of the movie.

“So we needed to figure out for this story, what is next for Moana.”

The film will feature Moana’s three-year-old sister Simea as a new character, voiced by Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda.

“She is an absolute scene stealer and such an emotional anchor in this story, I cannot wait for you guys to see her relationship with Moana, it’s super special and amazing,” Mr Bush added.

Johnson summarised the film as being about “the idea of believing that there is more and having the guts to go for more”.

The sequel is set to debut worldwide on November 27.