Moana 2 (Disney Animation - November 2024)

Miss Rori

Well-Known Member
They haven’t really pushed much from theaters down to D+ since then.

It also ignores what Disney’s already done with Alien: Romulus.
I'll chalk their not mentioning Alien: Romulus (and the success it's seen in the process of going to theaters) as not exactly being on brand with a discussion of Moana 2. ;) But that is a good point.

It is true that post-pandemic height the theatrical windows tended to be pretty short with films like Encanto and Strange World, but otherwise they've kept films around a while in theaters, possibly longer than other studios have before releasing them to digital purchase/rental platforms. It happened with Elemental and it certainly happened with Wish even when it became clear with the latter that next to no one wanted to see it (if they hadn't already in the first weekend) and it was being shunted to matinees only in the smallest auditorium in the multiplex. I still think that had Disney cut its losses and sent it to Disney+ for Christmas, they could have salvaged some of its potential audience; by the time it hit digital and Disney+ (missing multiple holiday weekends and periods where kids would have been at home!) anyone above 12 who cared probably heard more than enough about how bad it was. If anything, I got the sense from the article that Disney corporate wants everybody to forget Strange World and Wish ever happened.
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
I’m with @Miss Rori here. The “relegation” experiment really only lasted from late Spring 2020 through late summer 2021; by the fall of 2021 they stopped with the D+ or theatrical/D+ Premier Access stuff, and went back to reprioritizing their theatrical slate. They haven’t really pushed much from theaters down to D+ since then.

It also ignores what Disney’s already done with Alien: Romulus.
There were still movies in late 2021/early 2022 that were released D+ or had a short theatrical window, 45 days or less, before pushing to D+.

Just a quick few -

Encanto
Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings
Nightmare Alley
Turning Red
The Bob's Burger Movie

And while not all of these were likely blockbusters, Shang-Chi, Encanto, and Turning Red were meant to be. It wasn't until mid-2022 before they went fully back to theatrical. I know it seems like a long time ago, but it was only last year in 2023 that was really the first full year since 2019 they were full theatrical.
 

Miss Rori

Well-Known Member
Well, I'm impressed they were able to get Moana 2 IMAX-optimized in time. But as the article notes, it's definitely going to have to share those screens with two other movies (Gladiator II and Wicked Part One). Perhaps Moana 2 will primarily play matinees (at least after the first weekend or so)?
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
Well, I'm impressed they were able to get Moana 2 IMAX-optimized in time. But as the article notes, it's definitely going to have to share those screens with two other movies (Gladiator II and Wicked Part One). Perhaps Moana 2 will primarily play matinees (at least after the first weekend or so)?
As was discussed before, it wouldn't be a surprise for both Gladiator 2 and Wicked to lose most if not a majority of their IMAX screens since both are opening prior on Nov 22nd.
 

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