Moana 2's Massive Milestone Bodes Well for 2024 Disney Slate

Moana 2's massive trailer response hints at a big year.

By Aaron Perine

Moana 2 has already hit a massive Disney milestone and that bodes well for the rest of the company's 2024. This week, fans were treated to the trailer for Moana 2 and it promptly became the most-watched animated trailer in the company's history. 178 million views rushed ashore in just 24 hours, dethroning the anticipated Inside Out 2. With both of the these projects on the horizon, Disney can breathe a sigh of relief about their theatrical prospects heading into the rest of 2024. As the summer theatrical landscape is still looking for the first full-stop blockbuster, their studios might be able to put out one project each season that stands above the rest.

Later this fall, Moana 2 will hit theaters and there's good reason to believe it will be one of the biggest movies of the year. How can you tell when tickets aren't even on sale yet? Well, take one look at the streaming ratings numbers from 2023 and it all begins to snap into frame. Moana was the most streamed movie of last year. That's absolutely wild for an animated film. But, not completely out of the realm of possibility. Every parent reading this right now has probably heard one of the Disney movie's numerous songs. (You should probably prepare your eardrums now, some new ones are on the way to nestle into your subconscious.)

Despite beginning life as a Disney+ series, the sequel has become a force of its own with people getting excited about seeing something that reminds them of a previous era of cinematic experiences. Also, maybe when they were younger, or their parents were younger too. It stands to reason this will be a big family event just like Frozen 2 was all the way back in 2019. At this point, Disney would be breaking down the doors for an opening like that. Very few projects have enjoyed the halcyon days of 2019 at the cinema. It takes "events" and Moana 2 could end up fitting the bill.

Disney's Summer Already Looking Pretty Good

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(Photo: 20th Century)

Disney managed to start the summertime off with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. While some may have questioned revisiting the primate action/drama franchise, that choice has clearly paid off. Just yesterday, Kindgdom of the Planet of the Apes passed $300 million worldwide. In week 3, the movie continues to roll on as a new apes trilogy could be in the works if it climbs even higher.

One look around the multiplex shows Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes as the biggest non-family movie winner of this young summer. All around Wes Ball's latest offering are question marks littered around. The Fall Guy's opening has sparked a ton of hang-wringing around the industry. Universal felt like they were going to kick the door in on the warmer months and that clearly hasn't transpired. Over at Warner Bros., Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga was lauded by critics but audiences were hesitant to follow in the same numbers for some reason.

So, things just haven't flamed on for the summer in the way that a lot of studios would have hoped. Maybe it's the advent of streaming? (More like a constant deluge of media sources touting a downturn that really never transpired and lingering worries about prices that actually are not quite as bad across the board as you would believe from popular Internet videos.) All of this clear the deck for the groundswell that will clear the way for Moana 2.

Moana 2 Bats Clean-Up After Deadpool

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Summer isn't over yet, but it's gonna get late early if one of these movies cannot get a good enough head start on Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have crafted a juggernaut in waiting that is poised to rule over the multiplex in July. Conversation has swirled around the old MCU for a couple of years now. Even as the output has remained near the top of the ladder in the post-2020 media environment. (Not topping it in the same way though necessarily.) 

Deadpool & Wolverine stands to buck that trend in a massive way. Not only is it a Ryan Reynolds sequel to a beloved franchise, it's also a reintroduction to Jackman's surly Wolverine and the X-Men as a whole. For almost a year, the fanbase has provided its own marketing campaign for the movie. As they clamored for more connection between Marvel entries, what they really wanted was the X-Men to make them feel like kids again. And, Deadpool & Wolverine is going to do that.

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If Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine hit, there's a very real chance that 3 Disney movies could occupy a majority of the top spots on the box office ladder by the year's end. That would be a wild turnaround after constant raking over the coals by the press and commenters online. Moana 2 looks like an inescapable wave and at the rate this is going, that's probably a good thing for theaters all over.

Do you think Moana 2 is going to be massive? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media

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