New Report Suggests Disney is ‘Quietly Killing’ the Live-Action Moana Film

It was just about a year ago that Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the company was starting work on a live-action version of Moana (2016). The announcement was so big that Iger even brought out Maui himself, Dwayne Johnson, to help stoke the flames and prepare audiences for Disney’s latest live-action film.

Related: Bob Iger Admits Disney ‘Quietly Killing’ Some of Its Films

Oh, but what a difference a year makes. In that time, Disney has seen its movies tank at the box office, including the live-action Little Mermaid (2023), and at February’s earnings report, Iger announced that Disney Animation Studios was working on a sequel to Moana, which would be released later this year.

After that announcement, the live-action Moana was given an updated release date. The film was moved from June 2025 to November 2025. Those six months would allow for Moana 2 (2024) to receive its theatrical release, but also be sold online and eventually make its way to Disney Plus before another Moana movie hit theaters.

All of that seemed to be good news for Moana fans, but now, reports have surfaced that Disney is considering delaying the live-action Moana even further or possibly scrapping the project altogether. The movie has not started production, and Auli’i Cravalho has already said she will not reprise her role as Moana, so Disney Animation Studios would have to find a replacement.

Even more troubling is a statement that Bob Iger made earlier this month at a conference hosted by Morgan Stanley.

Iger said:

You have to kill things you no longer believe in, and that’s not easy in this business, because either you’ve gotten started, you have some sunk costs, or it’s a relationship with either your employees or with the creative community. It’s not an easy thing, but you got to make those tough calls. We’ve actually made those tough calls. We’ve not been that public about it, but we’ve killed a few projects already, that we just didn’t feel were strong enough.

With as many as 10 live-action adaptations currently in production, Disney Animation Studios and Bob Iger may be in wait-and-see mode with their live-action films. The first test of Disney’s live-action strategy will come later this year with the release of Mufasa: The Lion King (2024). But even if that movie proves successful, Disney follows that up with Snow White (2025). 

Related: Disney’s ‘Snow White’ Is In A $340 Million Hole, And It Hasn’t Been Released Yet

Since the movie’s announcement, Snow White has been mired in controversy. So, even if Snow White breaks even, Disney will consider that a success.

But with the star power of Dwayne Johnson, it’s hard to believe that the live-action Moana won’t eventually get its release date. Fans may just have to wait a bit longer.

What do you think of Disney’s live-action Moana possibly being delayed or canceled? Let us know in the comments.