‘Moana 2’s Pivot From Disney+ Series to a Film Completely Changed the Story

Disney’s Moana 2 might be the number one movie in the country right now, but had it actually been released in its original form, things might look a lot different. Before becoming a feature film, the hit sequel was first developed as a TV series for Disney+, and now, composer Mark Mancina is dishing on how the sudden shift to the big screen completely changed the story for Moana, Maui, Heihei, and everyone else on the island of Motunui.

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Sitting down with Screen Rant to discuss Moana 2, in which the titular character travels to Motufetu to break the curse placed upon it by Nalo, Mancina said that wasn’t always the plan for her hero’s journey this time around. Though he didn’t get into specifics, he did reveal that once everything changed and Disney president Alan Bergman informed everyone in January that they had to pivot to a feature film, he and the rest of the crew had a very limited window to complete the movie.

“It had that [Motufetu] in it, but not for those reasons. Because it was a 10-part series, or whatever it was, they had so much time to spend on characters and fun or whatever. They didn’t really have to get to the main part of the story, which I don’t really think they had anyway. We didn’t even have episodes. We only saw one or two and they cut, I think, number three together, but it was very rough.

“When they decided to make it into a movie, a year ago, I thought in two or three weeks we would have a script and then we would start working. We didn’t get the movie until May. We only had five months to do it. It was really a tight schedule.”

‘Moana 2’ Cut Several Songs Once It Made the Jump to the Big Screen

One of the most beloved aspects of Disney films is their many musical numbers, and Moana 2 is no different. From its opening song titled “We’re Back,” to “Can I Get a Chee Hoo?” the film has something for everyone to tap their feet to. Had it been a television series, though, there would have been even more musical numbers for us to enjoy. Once the entire storyline changed, however, many of those songs were left out of the final product, with Mancina telling Screen Rant that at least “two or three” were left on the cutting room floor.

“Of the songs that we did early on, the only one that survived was ‘We’re Back’, the first song. We did two or three other songs, one called ‘Goat’ and one called ‘Two Pieces of Me,’ and they were really good, but they didn’t fit the storyline anymore. Even though we really almost finished them, they weren’t in. They’ll probably release them on something at some point.”

It makes sense when you consider the obvious shortened runtime of the movie compared to a 10-episode series, but here’s hoping that Mancina’s words come true, and we get to hear them someday as either bonus tracks, or possibly in some short films that Disney has been known to let loose from time to time. In the meantime, you can check out Moana 2 now playing in theaters everywhere.