Moana Fired From Moana
Auli’i Cravalho, who voiced Moana in the animated movie has been fired from the live-action remake, for not being Polynesian enough. Nevermind, that she was the headliner in the animated blockbuster version, speaks Hawaiian, did the Polynesian dialog versions. And has a name that requires phonetic spelling if you are to have a prayer of getting it right.
She ain’t Hawaiian enough, she’s half Puerto Rican, so she’s out.
The reason Moana is getting a remake this fast is that it is the only movie Disney+ has that never fell out of the top ten Neilson’s. When the channel first launched, Disney+ did indeed dominate the movie chart but now the only property they have that is still getting watched on the regular is Moana.
You’d think they wouldn’t want to mess with a winning formula.
However, you are not Bob Iger. He’s much more worried about Disney’s SEG rating than he is making a version of Moana that makes a profit. Disney’s been getting along just fine without making profitable movies for a while. Okay maybe not “just fine” but Disney is still surviving without them. It could not however survive without its SEG score and the lines of credit that are attached to it. According to their own quarterly report Disney is operating with three to six weeks cash liquidity on hand, from what their reported annual revenues are. And Disney has a huge bill coming due in a little over seven months when the Hulu put option is exercised by Universal.
Still, it would be nice if Moana could make a profit. And maybe Disney can get along just fine without Auli’i Cravalho in the title role. After all Dwayne Johnson is the real star of the movie.
Good old 100% Polynesian Dwayne Johnson
