Thomas Kail has opened up on the differences between the original animated Moana movie and his new live action remake.
Moana director Thomas Kail thinks the story’s “emotional moments play quite differently” in the live action version.
The 49-year-old filmmaker was at the helm of the new live action adaptation of the 2016 animated classic, which sees Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson reprise his role as Maui, and he has reflected on what makes his movie stand apart from the original.
He told PEOPLE magazine: “So we wanted to ensure we had all of that comedy, all the entertainment.
“The scope and the scale of this movie, I think, feels quite different when you see it on a big screen with real people…
“When you see an actual 17-year-old [Catherine Laga’aia as Moana] in the middle of the water, that feels a little different. And I think a lot of the emotional moments play quite differently.
“When Gramma says goodbye, and it’s Rena Owen, you feel something, and that’s what I wanted to capture.”
Kail insisted he and his team “trusted” the original story and the characters, but knew “by making it flesh and blood, something was gonna change”.
He added: “By having two people in conversation eye to eye, something transfers there that’s quite powerful.”
However, while Disney fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of the new film, early reviews have been critical it, calling it everything from “dismal” to “unnecessary”.
In the wake of the backlash, Kail was asked if he reads reviews of his work, and told Variety: “I get the gist of things.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and I learned early on that getting a sense of a conversation was enough for me. I want as many people as possible to watch the movie, and I love making things for people.
“If that can be a tool to get people to watch it, great. But I also feel like there’s lots of ways to reach the people.”
The live action Moana opened over the weekend to just $43 million across North America, which is well short of its $60m-plus target, while tracking had suggested $75m wasn’t out of the question.
Despite having an A- CinemaScore from moviegoers, the box office performance will be disappointing after the film was made on a $250m production budget.
The original Moana hit the big screen in 2016 with an $82m five-day North America opening, going onto pull in $643m at the global box office.
An animated sequel followed in 2024, which opened to $225m domestically, and went over $1 billion globally.
Live action Moana director insists remake ‘plays quite differently’ to animated original
