Moana and Tiana animated shows, coming soon

[buckmana]

Moana and Tiana will be getting their own shows soonish.

I couldn't find any concept art for Moana's show at this time.

Moana is scheduled for 2024.
Tiana is scheduled for 2023.

[veu]

I want to see these new series!
I hope there will be the first series on a collection of Disney Princess animates series.

[buckmana]

I have some unfortunate news about the Moana series.

According to an update posted on the Moana fandom, the series has been reformatted into a sequel movie.

The reason is this is unfortunate is this happened once before, with the Atlantis series.
Disney produced a limited number of episodes, then abandoned the project and repackaged the episodes into a sequel movie.

Which is what I fear has occurred here, Disney has shut down production on the Moana series.

Courtesy of the Moana fandom, concept art:

[merprincess]

Seems like Disney is bringing back an old pattern: Atlantis 2, Tarzan 2, Cinderella 2, Belle's Magical World, and I'm sure more. Not my favorite format. I really hope it's not like they're doing "let's string together three unfinished episodes with unrelated stories and try to make a connecting thread as a framing device linking them all together". And lest we forget that Frozen 2 completely changed its story just months before its release, the documentary on Frozen 2 on Disney+ was really eye-opening about the relatively rushed creative process for that film. Not for nothing, things worked out alright with Frozen 2, it is at the very least its own story, but the holes in the narrative show that maybe it needed more time and a clearer direction before it was put out. I don't have much faith in Moana 2, and I would've had more if more of the original creative team been present for this one but idk if Disney is gonna figure out that without Lin-Manuel Miranda, they won't have a hit with their modern films. I want them to prove me wrong through, but I'm not holding my breath. I think Moana could've been an AMAZING series and maybe the film will pave the way for a separate series in the future?

[buckmana]

Honestly, to me it seems Disney is using name/brand recognition to get viewers in cinemas.
That the quality of the movie doesn't matter, because once the ticket is purchased, that's money in the bank, no refunds.

I have never been a fan of sequels unless they equal or exceed the quality of the original.
And those cases have been rare, especially with Disney.
The more sequels that are made, the less quality they have with each iteration.

It appears that the appeal of sequels is non longer effective, as Toy Story in particular is not appreciated for sequel spamming.

This is where tv series have had the advantage in the past, because each episode must stand on it's own merits, care has to be taken a quality product is delivered.
Although the 3rd or final season usually suffers from a quality decrease.

I hope they're not using the framing device approach with this movie.

Has Disney done other episode>sequel conversions besides Atlantis?

[merprincess]

buckmana the ones I mentioned were exactly that - tv show episodes that either came from an unfinished show or a show that ended early and the film turned the unfinished/unaired episodes into their own strung together sequel. I did accidentally say Tarzan 2 when I meant Tarzan and Jane, which does exactly this using 3 then-unaired episodes of the film's corresponding television series, The Legend of Tarzan. Cinderella 2: Dreams Come True is in a similar format, it's speculated there could've been a Cinderella series in development that got turned into the film but no concrete evidence, the film is described as a direct-to-video fantasy comedy anthology and it has 3 distinct stories that could each be their own separate episodes of a tv series. Belle's Magical World however is confirmed to consist of 3 episodes of an unreleased television series, loosely woven together in a feature-length story and also based on the original Disney animated feature. Truly hoping that's not what the Moana sequel will be like!

(to be fair Lilo and Stitch did this too but in a different way in that they actually had a full series at the time that did air. Stitch! The Movie was a backdoor pilot for the tv series Lilo & Stitch: The Series. The next film in the franchise, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, had nothing to do with the tv series. But the last film in the series Leroy & Stitch serves as the finale of the tv series)

All we know so far is the following synopsis Disney has provided:
“After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced.”

To me, this doesn't sound much different than the original Moana film. Keep in mind all the while Disney is also apparently working on a live-action Moana, and also Moana is being adapted as a stage show for the Disney Cruise Line. The original Moana was the most streamed movie on Disney+ this past year so I understand all the focus on it, but I worry that with all this focus on the original film, it's not allowing a more organic story to grow for the sequel now that it is a sequel and not a series. I just don't know how they can make a compelling and gripping narrative with what they have to work with. The fact that Auli'i and The Rock are also still in talks to even reprise their roles in the sequel makes me speculate that soundalikes were hired for the sequel - it's really unfortunate for whoever those voice actors are that their work will have to be scrapped.

And very true, I think a lot of us felt the Toy Story arc completely satisfied after the 3rd film. It had a beautiful ending that felt terminal but also left some room for little shorts and things like with Barbie and Ken, Bonnie's toys, etc, and I really enjoyed the set of shorts that followed Toy Story 3! It could've worked well as a series (I mean it essentially was in a very loose sense?). The 4th film was alright, but it felt superfluous. And anything beyond that, as there is a 5th film in the works, feels even more unnecessary.

[buckmana]

Drat, I was hoping that Atlantis was the only time they they repurposed episodes from an abandoned series project.
Disheartening to learn Disney has done this more then once.

Stitch has a Glitch really doesn't seem like it belongs in the series at all, so I ignore that addition to the franchise.

Intriguing that Moana is going to explore Oceania, that's the region that contains Australia.
So she's coming to my part of the world.
While we don't have any Polynesian cultures in Australia, the Maori in neighbouring New Zealand are of Polynesian descent, so in history, they did come this far south.

I doubt they can make a compelling story out of what they have so far.
The individual stories themselves are probably quite good, but the framing device (based on my experience with Atlantis) will be weak.
I thought it was a given Auli'i Cravalho is still available for television work with Disney, given that is what she is currently doing with Hailey's On It.
The Rock though, they'd have to find a soundalike, since I doubt he is available to work on an ongoing cartoon.

Some technical issues have been raised as concerns about the fast tracking of this movie production.
Since it's too much for me to summarise, I recommend watching the video on the subject:


But for a quick recap of the above video, the problem is that a musical movie takes 5 years to produce, an ordinary movie 3 years.
And they want it ready by November, about 7 months.
Only just now was it announced that Auli'i Cravalho was signed to work on the project.
They've already cut the number of the songs from 7 to 3 because there simply is not time to make them all.