Moana 2 has already hit $600 million at the global box office, and no one knows how far it’ll go. But before the film was breaking revenue records and joining Inside Out 2 to add to Disney/Pixar’s 2024 box office wins, Disney’s marketing was setting it up to make a big splash.

The project started as a TV series; however, after the original Moana surprisingly became the most-streamed movie in the U.S. in 2023, executives reconsidered and decided to turn Moana 2 into a movie. According to Martha Morrison, Walt Disney Studios’ executive vice president of marketing, the team did “a lot of cheering” when it heard late last year that the Moana follow-up was heading to theaters.

“That meeting was filled with a lot of excitement and a lot of feeling like we want to make sure that we’re doing right by this project,” Morrison said. “So let’s get started right now.”

Morrison noted that the marketing department works with production early for animation projects. For instance, Jackson George, senior vp of creative advertising at Disney Entertainment, is in concept pitch meetings and thinking about formulating trailers throughout the process. So, although the move from a TV show to a movie changed the story of the film, the conversations are generally the same, talking about things such as key art, promos, and images.

The difference comes in the timing. Today’s TV show and streaming marketing is more immediate, with audiences wanting to stream something quickly. However, movie marketing needs to roll out several months in advance.

“It’s really dependent on getting in front of the right audiences,” Morrison said. “And to get in front of the right theatrical audiences, you have to start the campaigns a lot earlier.”

With the film setting a high mark for the Thanksgiving box office at $225 million—freezing Frozen II’s previous mark of $125 million in its tracks—Morrison explained how the movie reached the right audiences and made waves.

Approaching marketing from a fan perspective

According to Morrison, several of the members of the Moana 2 marketing team—herself included—worked on marketing the original Moana. Given the team’s history with the film and the global popularity of the franchise, the executive explained that the campaign was focused on “harnessing the fan energy” within the building.

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