WYNTK: "Moana" Charts a Course for Theaters, Epic Universe Debuts a New Nighttime Spectacular, and More This Week in the World of Disney and Beyond

Moana becomes Disney's latest live-action adaptation, Epic Universe debuts an all-new nighttime spectacular, and a Downtown Disney location closes up shop. Here’s just some things to keep your eyes on in the coming week. Be sure to check back here at Laughing Place as we will have reviews, recaps, and coverage from each of these events, series, and movies!

Moana Gets the Live-Action Treatment

• Disney's latest live-action adaptation, bringing Moana into the realm of live-action just ten years after the animated film debuted, hits theaters this Friday, July 10.
• The film stars Catherine Lagaʻaia as Moana and a returning Dwayne Johnson as Maui, alongside John Tui as Chief Tui, Frankie Adams as Sina, and Rena Owen as Gramma Tala. Along with Johnson, one other actor from the animated version reprises their role, with Jemaine Clement once more voicing Tamatoa.
• Tickets are now on sale for the film, along with the reveal of the film's popcorn buckets and other movie theater novelties.
• Songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda has returned to pen a new song, "Along the Way," which is performed by Lagaʻaia, Johnson, and animated Moana actress Auli'i Cravalho.

Epic Universe to Debut New Celestial Goodnight Nighttime Spectacular

• Beginning Tuesday, July 7, a new nighttime spectacular will take to the skies over Universal Orlando's newest theme park, Epic Universe.
• The new show will envelop all of Celestial Park (Epic Universe's central land that leads to all the portals and immersive worlds) with a display of dancing fountains, lighting effects, and fireworks finale that will launch into the night sky.
• Developed by Universal's award-winning entertainment team, Universal Celestial Goodnight will pay tribute to the characters and stories featured within the park, including the playful fun of Super Nintendo World, the excitement of How To Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk, the magic of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic, and the iconic Universal Monsters featured in Dark Universe.
• The new show utilizes nearly 600 lighting fixtures, over 350 fountains, and seven million LED lights embedded throughout Celestial Park to surround guests from Luna on one end of the land to Apollo on the other, with stunning choreography and a high-energy musical score all building to the jaw-dropping fireworks finale to end the day at the new park.

Downtown Disney Says Farewell to Jamba (Juice)

• One of Downtown Disney's oldest tenants, Jamba, will be closing on Monday, July 6 to be replaced by a new boba tea shop called Bopo Go!
• Jamba will remain open through July 5, where it will continue to serve smoothies, fruit bowls, matcha, cold brews, sandwiches and pretzels.
• Bopo Go! will be a new cafe concept from Bopomofo developed specifically for Downtown Disney.
• Bopomofo is known for its freshly pressed juices made from real fruit, loose leaf teas sourced from Taiwanese tea farmers and ceremonial grade matcha sourced from Japan.

Project Runway Returns for a Star-Studded 22nd Season

• Heidi Klum returns to host Project Runway's biggest season ever, which debuts on Thursday, July 9 at 9:30 p.m. ET on Freeform and will stream shortly after on Hulu and Disney+, followed by weekly airings.
• For the first time, 22 designers from different backgrounds, the most in Project Runway history, will compete for a chance to take their careers to the next level. Heidi Klum, Law Roach and Nina Garcia return as judges, with Christian Siriano returning as mentor. 
• This season, supermodel and entrepreneur Tyra Banks joins as a recurring judge.

Hammerhead Sharks, Sharkfest, Oh My!

• It's once again that time of the year, when the ever-popular Sharkfest returns to National Geographic, this time for its fin-credible 14th year.
• Sharkfest combines jaw-dropping encounters with groundbreaking science and expert-led storytelling that reveal new insights into the behavior, power and conservation of one of the ocean’s most fascinating predators.
• The fun will kick off this year on Sunday, July 5 with Hammerhead Sharks Up Close with Bertie Gregory – which our own Ben Breitbart already had the chance to review.
• Sharkfest will continue on to look at the World's Biggest Mako, Attack of the Samurai Sharks, and even Shark vs. Giant Croc!
• Additional fin-tastic programming will roll out throughout the month across Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo Mundo, Disney Channel and Disney XD, with select titles also streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.