Wētā FX Reveals Its Visual Effects Work For Disney's Live-Action Moana
See how the team tackled the challenge of recreating Te Kā and Te Fiti.
Wētā FX, the award-winning visual effects studio renowned for its work on The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Avatar series, has also brought its expertise to 2026's live-action adaptation of Disney's animated classic, Moana. The team has now offered a brief behind-the-scenes glimpse of its work in a VFX reel highlighting the movie's lush environments, dynamic ocean effects, and the mythical characters Te Kā and Te Fiti.
In the video below, several artists discuss the challenges of combining simulations with manual animation on Moana, particularly when creating Te Kā, whose fiery form is made up of lava:
"Lava can be really liquid like water, and it can be really viscous. We did build controls into the rig that animation could convey some intent. That way, if she would be really angry, we wanted her hotter, animation could already decide where she's hotter, the effects artist still had to tweak that on a shot-by-shot basis, but it helped a lot out to get already the first feel."
A few years ago, Disney released its dataset, which contains everything necessary to render a version of Motunui Island featured in the 2016 film Moana.
Want to see more of Wētā FX's work? Check out the studio's VFX breakdown for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, facial animation in Deadpool & Wolverine, and how Houdini was used in Avatar: The Way of Water:
We've got plenty more VFX breakdowns from your favorite movies and shows here on 80 Level. Take a step behind the scenes of Jurassic World Rebirth, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Mickey 17, Alice in Borderland, and One Piece:
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