Properties like Marvel and Star Wars might make a mint for the Walt Disney Company, but the company’s original cash cow is the Disney Princesses line, a notion reinforced by the massive global success of Frozen, not to mention other recent Disney Princess hits like Brave and Tangled.
Now Disney is getting ready to bring us yet another female heroine in animated form with next year’s Moana, which features Moana Waialiki as Disney’s first Polynesian princess, and Dwayne Johnson as the voice of Maui (the Polynesian God, not the island. He’s big, but he’s not that big) which is currently slated for a Nov. 23, 2016, release date. Until recently, all we’ve had was a title card featuring the film’s title treatment, but now Disney has released the first official art from Moana, giving us an idea of what to expect visually, which you can see below.
Here is the official description for Moana from Walt Disney Animation Studios: “Ron Clements and Jon Musker  (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog), return to tell the story of Moana, a spirited teenager on an impossible mission to fulfill her ancestorsâ quest. Itâs set in the ancient South Pacific world of Oceania, and Moana, a born navigator, sets sail in search of a fabled island. During her incredible journey, she teams up with her hero, the legendary demigod Maui, to traverse the open ocean on an action-packed voyage, encountering enormous sea creatures, breathtaking underworlds and ancient folklore.”
Ever since the movie was announced, fans have taken it upon themselves to imagine what the film’s lead and other characters would look like, and in our gallery below, check out some of the ideas that the artists at deviantArt have come up with for Moana.
Featured images courtesy of deviantArt // artists: johngreeko, spicysteweddemon, irenemartini, NynjaKat, chorchori, elisebrave, arbetta, sereneimmorality