Moana 2 Crew Leadership and Core Creative Team
The film is directed by Jared Bush and co-directed by Jason Hand, with Christina Chen serving as producer. The screenplay is credited to Jared Bush, Dana Ledoux Miller, and Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story team includes members from Walt Disney Animation Studios who previously worked on the first film and other recent Disney franchises Forbes. The production leverages Walt Disney Animation Studios' internal pipeline, with technical supervision handled by the studio's core leadership in Burbank, California.
Music for the sequel is composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foa'i, and Mark Mancina, continuing the collaborative approach from the original. The crew structure follows Disney's standard feature animation hierarchy, with department leads for story, art, animation, lighting, and sound reporting to the film's directors and producer BusinessWire via The Hollywood Reporter. The studio has confirmed that the majority of the core creative team from the first film returned for the sequel.
Voice Cast and Character Performance Direction
Auli'i Cravalho returns as the voice of Moana, with Dwayne Johnson reprising his role as Maui. The ensemble cast includes newcomer characters voiced by actors such as Rose Matafeo, David Fane, and Awhimai Fraser, who joined the project during the voice recording phase Billboard. The casting director worked with Disney's talent team to select performers who could align with the Polynesian cultural advisors and the film's musical requirements.
Character performance direction is led by the film's directors, who guide the voice actors through sessions that integrate movement and emotional beats with the pre-visualized animation. The crew uses performance capture and reference footage to ensure consistency between the voice performances and the final animated sequences SEC Filing. Disney has not disclosed the full voice cast roster, but public interviews and promotional materials confirm the principal actors listed above.
Production Timeline, Studio Strategy, and Release Outlook
Walt Disney Animation Studios announced Moana 2 as a theatrical release, moving the project from a streaming-first strategy to a hybrid model that supports both box office and Disney+ premiere windows. The studio's production schedule for 2024 and 2025 includes several other animated features, with Moana 2 positioned as a tentpole title for the fall season Forbes. The production team completed principal voice recording and began final animation stages ahead of the scheduled theatrical launch.
Box office tracking services and internal Disney projections indicate the studio expects Moana 2 to contribute meaningfully to annual animation revenue, with early pre-sale ticket data suggesting strong opening weekend demand. The crew's work is supported by Disney's parent company financial framework, which allocates production budgets and marketing spend based on franchise performance and global audience demand signals