Ten months ago, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson announced on his Instagram account that a reimagining a live-action remake of Disney’s “Moana” in a picturesque video with his daughters near Kualoa (Johnson even carries an ahi-sized fish-hook into the waves). Hawaii residents all over could be heard "chee-hoo"-ing. The islands were so proud. 

Johnson announced he would reprise his role as Maui, and in a later post announced the film release date to be June, 27, 2025.

Hawaii-born actress, Auli‘i Cravalho, who voiced the young Moana in the original animated version, will not reprise her role, but stated in an interview with Spectrum News Hawaii in January, that she will be an executive producer on the project.

However, when some social media (see below) and articles went up last week, implying that the "Moana" would not film in Hawaii at all, residents were miffed.

Spectrum News Hawaii reached out to Disney Studios for comment, and found out that live-action "Moana" is indeed filming at multiple locations, including Hawaii.

Now, Hawaii fans can rest assured, that Hawaii will still have a place in the next rendition of the "Moana"-verse, just as The Rock promised. In the meantime, Disney announced that a sequel to the animated blockbuster, "Moana 2," will be in theaters Thanksgiving weekend.

Nuy Cho is the executive producer of Spectrum News Hawaii. Read more of her stories here.