Somehow it’s already been a decade since the original Moana movie came out, and Disney fans can now look forward to the story being retold as a live-action film on the 2026 movie schedule. This week, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and the new Moana actress, Catherine Laga'aia, presented the film at Las Vegas’s CinemaCon, and the Maui actor brought up a golden point about the demigod and “real masculinity”.
The original Moana is already a special movie to a lot of people, so what will the new movie bring to audiences who’ve likely already seen the original many times? One thing that Dwayne Johnson said during the Walt Disney Studios panel (via Variety) definitely sticks out. In his words:
The hero of our story is not a princess, she’s a warrior. All men of all ages, we should empower and support and champion all women. That’s what real masculinity looks like.
There’s always a lot of upcoming The Rock movies on the way for the superstar, so naturally, I’ve been wondering why the actor/producer would feel so passionately about remaking a movie that is already considered one of Walt Disney Animation’s best. It sounds like he’s very interested in spreading the message of the film further, and underlining one point about masculinity Maui stands for.
When we meet Maui in Moana, he thinks he’s the greatest hero, but he ultimately steps aside and needs Moana to save the day rather than earning all the glory. As he mentioned at CinemaCon, “all men” should give women the chance to feel the way that Moana does in her tale, and perhaps that’s one big reason the movie bears repeating in live action. Maui is definitely a rare character in media, and he’s got a great point here. The Rock also said this:
The animated version was just an amazing experience for us as Polynesian people. Maui has been with me for over a decade, and to have the opportunity to bring this powerful and vulnerable demigod to life means so much to me.
Along with Moana getting The Rock to play Maui again, it's also helping show his vulnerability and break stereotypes about big, strong men having to be tough all the time. The new movie will give more of a microphone to the Polynesian people and their culture, as a wide audience will get to see Polynesian actors front a major studio film – and that definitely doesn’t happen every day! You can check out the trailer for Moana:
I like that Dwayne Johnson has talked about being “protective” over Moana before, whilst doing the remake. I also appreciate that the director said “the opportunity to have flesh and blood” tell Moana’s hero’s journey made the movie worth his time. You can see the live-action Moana in theaters on July 10.
