Poor Moana! Turns out our plucky Polynesian princess will have to go by another name in Italy, where “Moana” is the name of a famous Italian porn star. Despite adult film star Moana Pazzi’s passing in 1994, she’s still considered a household name in Italy. Disney’s Moana will be renamed Oceania in Italy as a result.
“There are two very simple reasons for the title change,” said an Italian marketing expert quoted by Variety . “One is that if you type ‘Moana’ and do a Google search in Italy you risk coming up with porn videos. And it’s very expensive and a waste of money to try and change that.”
The marketing exec also noted that “in any Italian focus group ‘Moana’ is Moana Pozzi the porn star.”
While this is an especially hilarious reason for a regional name change, there are plenty of instances of movies in different markets having their names changed for different reasons. For example, Moana will be released as Vaiana in Spain because “Moana” is already a registered brand there.
Disney Italia has not commented on the change, though head of theatrical marketing for Disney Italia, Davide Romani, acknowledged the issue last year.
In other Moana news that’s a little less salacious, the Moana soundtrack is available today featuring music by Hamilton and In the Heights scribe Lin-Manuel Miranda and Grammy-winning composer Mark Mancina. You can listen to it on Spotify here:
Hopefully, thanks to Disney’s proactive step, little Italian children googling “Oceania” won’t get any nasty surprises. The soundtrack sounds great, all trailers have been a delight, and early reviews are euphoric, so here’s hoping for a runaway Thanksgiving success.
Oceania hits Italian theatres on Nov. 22, a day ahead of Moana ’s American release. Do you plan to see it? Feel free to discuss Moana - uh, Oceania - Vaiana ? - in our comments section below.
