Two days ago, Disney released a trailer for its new animated princess movie, Moana. The stunning trailer introduced us to Moana, a Polynesian girl, who meets the demi-god Maui. Just by a look at the 90-second teaser, it is hard not to believe the movie won’t be another Disney success, both in terms of quality and sales.
First, releasing the movie on Thanksgiving 2016 is an effective marketing technique to increase sales.
Secondly, three references to Maui’s mythology were made in only 90 seconds. According to Polynesian mythology, Maui can transform himself into a bird, he would’ve hauled islands from the sea and he would’ve slowed downed the sun with his fish-hook named “Manaiakalani”. Of course, this isn’t of any importance for the young audience, but let’s not forget who pays for the tickets. The older viewers, whether they see it with their kids or not, will enjoy some consistency.
Thirdly, the team behind the movie knows what it’s doing. After commercial and critical success with Frozen, Zootopia and Big Hero 6, it would be a big surprise to see Disney failing to deliver quality content with this new movie. The visual look incredible and other big names like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Lin Manuel Miranda are working on this project. For those of you who don’t know Lin Manuel Miranda, he’s a multi-talented composer who is only and Oscar away from being on the EGOT list (people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony). Plus, he won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his musical Hamilton.
Last but not least, this animated movie is helping to restore a certain balance in Hollywood’s diversity. Many studies have shown that there is a lack of minorities in movies, which is often not the case with animation movies.
