For Auli'i Cravalho, returning for the Walt Disney sequel film 'Moana 2" was a Hawaiian homecoming for both herself as an actor and for her character.
"Moana's journey will take her very far, but also that growth means coming back home and experiencing that with your community," the Hawaiian native told Reuters.
"Speaking of community, the connection of all of the people across the Pacific, this feels like a celebration of Pan Pacific, Pan Polynesian culture," she added.
For the cast and creators of "Moana 2," the project was not just professional, it was personal.
"It feels so incredible that my growth as a human seems to be juxtaposed with hers (Moana's)," Cravalho said.
"Moana 2," directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller, opens on Wednesday.
The Stagwell Group's entertainment and technology arm, National Research Group, predicts "Moana 2" will bring in $145 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend.
The film follows wayfinder Moana, who receives a sudden call from her wayfinding ancestors to travel the seas and break the curse of god Nalo, which prevents the people of various islands from reconnecting.
She forms her own crew, which reunites her with demigod Maui, played by Dwayne Johnson.
The music for the first "Moana" was written by "Encanto" songwriter Lin Manuel Miranda, while the sequel introduces the songwriting duo Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear.
The duo, which rose to prominence on TikTok, won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2022 for "The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical," attracting a lawsuit from Netflix. It also created an opportunity to take over the songs for the sequel.
While they wanted to "pay homage to the beautiful world" of the first "Moana" with the music, they also aimed to add their own "flair to it."
Part of the flair for the entire film was figuring out how to add even more Pacific Islander culture within all aspects of the sequel, which was key for the director trio.
"I think it's so special that we get to celebrate the Pacific in these films, and that we get to have a heroine who is just so compelling and empathetic and awesome and weird and goofy," said Ledoux Miller.
"I think we can see a little bit of ourselves in her," the Samoan director added, noting that many Pacific Islander communities have the same values of family and togetherness that Moana does.
For the directors, it was about going on a "new adventure with old friends" and striking a balance between familiarity and something brand new.
The film is highly anticipated after Disney's other 2024 animated sequel "Inside Out 2" crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office in less than three weeks of release, reaching that level in the fastest time of any animated film in history.
The first "Moana" found box office success as well, topping 2016 box office numbers by earning $81.1 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday period and $55.5 million for the weekend.
