The creators of Disney princess Moana reveal how to make a billion-dollar hit

By Robbie Collin
Updated December 4 2016 - 1:13pm, first published 5:00am
<i>Moana</i> is one of the best-reviewed major releases of the year. Photo: Disney
<i>Moana</i> is one of the best-reviewed major releases of the year. Photo: Disney
<i>Moana</i> succeeds with no prince in the picture. Photo: Disney
<i>Moana</i> succeeds with no prince in the picture. Photo: Disney
From left: Director John Musker, producer Osnat Shurer, Nicole Scherzinger, Auli’i Cravalho, 
Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Ron Clements and Opetaia Foa’i at a <i>Moana</i> screening in London. Photo: Getty Images/Stuart C. Wilson
From left: Director John Musker, producer Osnat Shurer, Nicole Scherzinger, Auli’i Cravalho, Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Ron Clements and Opetaia Foa’i at a <i>Moana</i> screening in London. Photo: Getty Images/Stuart C. Wilson
<i>Moana</i> subverts the princess-movie magic formula even more than <i>Frozen</i> (pictured).  Photo: Disney
<i>Moana</i> subverts the princess-movie magic formula even more than <i>Frozen</i> (pictured). Photo: Disney
<i>Moana</i> had the second-best cinema opening on record over the Thanksgiving long weekend in the US. Photo: Disney
<i>Moana</i> had the second-best cinema opening on record over the Thanksgiving long weekend in the US. Photo: Disney
<i>The Princess and the Frog</i> marked a return to hand-drawn animation at Disney. Photo: Disney
<i>The Princess and the Frog</i> marked a return to hand-drawn animation at Disney. Photo: Disney

The sorcerer's hat is so big you can see it from the highway. Crowning the entrance to the Feature Animation Building at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, it's four storeys tall, midnight blue and trimmed with a silvery yellow moon and stars: think Mickey Mouse's broom-wrangling headgear in Fantasia, but big enough to top the tallest turret of Sleeping Beauty Castle. And in its conical shadow one September evening in 2005, John Musker and Ron Clements were finished.

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