Month: June 2024

14 Jun

The coconut-like Kakamora tribe and other beloved characters will return for Disney’s Moana 2

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Moana 2, Disney, Annecy

As this year’s Annecy Animation Festival continues to tease some of Hollywood’s most anticipated animated projects, Disney pleased its Friday crowd by screening footage from the studio’s highly-anticipated sequel, Moana 2. In addition to showing off the film’s gorgeous setting, refined character models, and mystical elements, Disney revealed an assembly of characters returning to the island of Motunui. Prepare to get reacquainted with the Kakamora tribe, the pint-sized warriors with coconut armor from the first film. Moana’s parents, Chief Tut and Sina, also join the cast alongside Dwayne Johnson’s Maui. New characters joining the cast include Moana’s baby sister, Simea, an engineer named Loto, a farmer named Kele, and a Maui fanatic named Moni.

“It’s about connection, to who we are, where we came from,” director David Derrick Jr. said during the presentation about the plot of Moana 2. In the film, Moana and her merry band of misfits search for the island of Motufetu, which a God of Storms has hidden.

Disney’s presentation for Moana 2 shared 15 minutes of unfinished footage, including a scene where Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) returns from a mission to find her family waiting with open arms. The scene features the new song “We’re Back,” an appropriate sentiment for a sequel if there ever was one. A lightning bolt strikes a nearby hut during a ceremony where Moana assumes a new title. After the God of Storms reveals their discontent, Moana accepts a mission to unite other lands and tribes to combat the new foe. After gathering her crew, Moana sets sail, encountering a massive clam-like creature. Those who enjoyed Maui’s sentient tattoos from the first film will be delighted to know they make a playful return in the sequel.

Here’s the official synopsis for Moana 2:

“Opening only in theaters Nov. 27, 2024, Moana 2 reunites Moana and Maui three years later for an expansive new voyage alongside a crew of unlikely seafarers. After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced. Directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, and produced by Christina Chen and Yvett Merino, Moana 2 features music by Grammy winners Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Grammy nominee Opetaia Foaʻi, and three-time Grammy winner Mark Mancina.”

In other Disney news, Pixar’s Inside Out 2 opens in theaters this weekend, and word has it that it’s Pixar’s best film in years.

The post The coconut-like Kakamora tribe and other beloved characters will return for Disney’s Moana 2 appeared first on JoBlo.

14 Jun

Scream: Henry Winkler remembers being insulted by the studio during the movie’s marketing

By . FilmTV No Comments
henry winkler scream

Henry Winkler will be forever known for playing The Fonz in Happy Days, but that notoriety, while a benefit in many ways, also turned out to be something of a handicap for the actor when the show ended in 1984. In his great new book, “Being Henry: The Fonz… and Beyond” (buy it here), Winkler remembers a particular slight that came his way via Dimension Films, the studio behind Scream, when they were marketing the movie.

Winkler has an extended cameo in the movie as the doomed Principal Arthur Himbry. He fondly recalls working on the film, which was a favor for his friend, director Wes Craven. He particularly enjoyed filming his death scene, in which he remembers that “I screamed louder than I believed any human could.” He also says that the famous sequence where you see the reflection of Ghostface in his eye took over two hours to get just right, as this was in the days before such a shot could be easily done with CGI.

Yet, while he enjoyed working with Craven and on the film itself, he was thoroughly insulted when the studio declined to give him any on-screen credit. As he recalls, they said, “We cannot put Henry’s name on the movie. We can’t put Henry’s picture on the poster. He is the Fonz. He will knock the balance of the horror off.” Winkler says Craven himself apologized for the slight, with it not his call, but ironically, when they started testing the movie, audience members loved Winkler’s role in it. As a result, despite his still lacking on-screen credit, they asked him to start promoting the movie (it opened poorly at the box office but was a huge word-of-mouth hit). He said that while “I extended my middle finger in the privacy of my own home”, he eventually agreed because he realized the publicity would benefit Craven, as well as himself. Now, he says that even if his name isn’t on the movie, he’s forever associated with it in the minds of fans and loves signing Scream memorabilia at comic conventions.

Indeed, Winkler is a class act in Hollywood. I have fond memories of meeting him at the Critic’s Choice Awards in 2020, when he politely stopped me and my partner at the time to compliment her on her hair and dress. Of course, being a massive fan, I became ultra star-struck and he couldn’t have been nicer.

The post Scream: Henry Winkler remembers being insulted by the studio during the movie’s marketing appeared first on JoBlo.

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