Disney fans may see their first Latina Disney princess in Moana sequel

On the success of Coco, there are rumors that Disney may add their first motion picture Latina princess in the Moana sequel, written by Lin-Manual Miranda.

Fans of Disney’s Moana and Lin-Manuel Miranda might have their wildest dreams come true. There are rumors that the proposed Moana sequel might feature Disney’s first motion picture Latina princess!

In the past few years, Disney has finally recognized the market potential of the Latino demographic that is 18 percent of the US population per a 2017 Pew poll and growing 2 percent each year.

Disney has taken steps in the right direction with Latino representation by debuting a Latina princess with the TV show Elena and the Secret of Avalor in 2016. Then there was the immensely popular Coco (2016) that Deadline reported made $500 million worldwide and the biggest blockbuster in Mexico per Slate. Moreover, Deadline reported that Coco “grossed $167.5M to date” in China, making it the biggest Pixar film in the country so far.

It seems only natural that Disney would add a Latina princess to its Disney movie Princess roster even if it’s a bit overdue.  Over the past 25 years, Disney has been slowly diversifying its princesses, starting with Pocahontas (1995), and gaining some recent speed with Tiana from the Princess and the Frog (2009) and recently with Moana (2016.) Entertainment companies have been learning with the successes of movies like Black Panther (2018), diversity pays and pays well. Moana, of course, made over $600 million worldwide in its own right.

Now there’s the added bonus that rumors are swirling that Lin-Manuel Miranda may be writing the character. Miranda has done extremely well with Disney movies thus far between his work on the soundtrack on Moana and his stellar performance in the recent Mary Poppins Returns. So far, however, Miranda’s father has been the only one to confirm this news, according to a report by Page Six. While this gives Disney fans hope, the confirmation hasn’t come from Disney nor Miranda himself… yet.

Now, these rumors do beg the question of why Disney is possibly considering using the Moana franchise to create a Latina princess when they could create two separate movies. There’s no doubt that fans will revel in Moana’s new adventures as well as flock to a movie about a Latina princess in her own world, apart from Moana’s.

Or are there plans to have other princesses meet up? After all, the princess scenes in Ralph Breaks the Internet are quite delightful and tongue in cheek for a Disney movie.

One can only hope that these rumors are evidence that Disney executives are considering a Latina princess and heroine as well as a Moana sequel. While we love to see princesses working together, we easily think Disney’s first Latina princess could carry her own film from the start.