Johnson also spoke about the importance of a live-action adaptation of the film and some of the initial criticism he received about a reboot coming just a decade after the original film’s release in 2016.
“They are real flesh and blood people, they are real human beings,” he said. “When we started… there were some people who said it was this ideology of, oh, we need to give it more time, and I thought, ‘Okay, I get it, but at the same time, there are values ​​in this version that should be shown by real human beings.’

Thomas Kail, who directed the theatrical release of “Hamilton” for Disney, directed the live-action film “Moana.” Catherine Laga’aia stars alongside Johnson in the title role. Other cast members include John Tui, Frankie Adams, Rena Owen and Jemaine Clement.

“Moana,” both at the box office and at home, is one of Disney’s best-performing franchises. The first film, which grossed $643 million worldwide after its release in 2016, is one of the most-watched titles on Disney+. Its 2024 sequel, which was cobbled together using a scrapped “Moana” TV show and made for streaming, had the biggest Thanksgiving weekend gross with $225 million. It generated just over a billion dollars worldwide.

Unsurprisingly, a “Moana 3” is in the works, as Johnson confirmed at a recent press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He said, “Yes, we’ve talked about ‘Moana 3,’ yes. But first, live-action ‘Moana,’ we’ll let that come out first. We have [the] “The incredible Jared Bush and Dana Ledoux Miller, who have been our writers… will write ‘Moana 3.'”

The live-action movie “Moana” hits theaters on July 9.

See more photos from the premiere below.