While the decision to change Moana's Disney+ sequel series into Moana 2 paid off at the box office, it required some creative wayfinding from the film's composer.
After penning the score and various tunes for 2016's Moana, Disney brought back Grammy-award-winning Mark Mancina for Moana's Disney+ series, not knowing he would later have to rework the show's music into a big-screen sequel.
Moana 2's Disney+ Origins Caused Musical Challenges
In talking with the What's On Disney Plus Podcast, composer Mark Macina revealed that a lot of work for the Moana Disney+ show "didn't get used" in Moana 2:
"In fact, I think a lot of what we were doing didn't get used, and some things that we did early on became something else. It's kind of interesting, you know, moments that we had - that we were working on - kind of evaporated. But the musical idea was so strong that it ended up kind of moving over into this story."
Released in theaters on November 27, Moana 2 found the Wayfinder accepting a call from her ancestors to voyage into long-lost waters to break the villainous demigod Nalo's island curse.
For the series turned sequel film, Mancina reunited with Moana songwriter and composer Opetaia Foa‘i and teamed up with songwriter duo Barlow and Bear.
When asked about the biggest challenge he experienced on Moana 2, the composer answered, "The timeframe," especially since the project was "completely rewritten" while being transitioned into a movie:
"The timeframe was really difficult because of the fact that it was on one time frame a TV thing and then it wasn't just moved over to a movie it was completely rewritten, which means that we had to kind of standby and wait till we knew kind of where we were going."
But once he and the team had their direction, the composer confessed that "we didn't have as much time as would like to:"
"And at that point, we didn't have as much time as we would like to have had to do it, and these are big gigantic movies with big gigantic scores with layers of vocals and percussion. So it was difficult to get it all finished on time."
Should Fans Expect a Moana 3 Musical Reunion?
While Disney CEO Bob Iger's decision to make Moana's Disney+ show into a film was the right one, creating a streaming series and making a movie are two completely different things.
It's no wonder that the show had to be "completely rewritten" into a film; but as a result, that meant Mark Mancina and his team had to rewrite or retool all of their work but with more pressure and a shorter timeline.
It's worth noting that Mancina was also missing a key member of the original Moana songwriting team, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who penned Maui's "You're Welcome" and Moana's signature ballad, "How Far I'll Go."
And, while Mufasa: The Lion King is the likely reason for why Lin Manuel Miranda didn't return for Moana 2, it would be interesting to know if that decision would've been different had the sequel been a film from the start.
With Moana 3 all but confirmed (check out what Moana 2's post-credit scene means for the franchise here), the big question is whether Mancina will be willing to the franchise once more and if fans should expect a reunion between him and Lin Manuel Miranda.
Moana 2 is playing in theaters worldwide.
