The Rock promises pupils free Moana movie trip

Primary school pupils were "absolutely shocked" after a professional wrestler-turned-Hollywood megastar promised them a free trip to the cinema to see his new movie.

It all started after students at St. Gregory Primary School, in Sudbury, Suffolk, recorded a social media video in January in the hope of getting the attention of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

Headteacher Daniel Woodrow told pupils that if the former WWE star saw the clip, he would take them to see the new live-action Moana film for their end-of-year trip.

However, they got an even greater surprise after their video went viral and caught the attention of the actor. He sent them a video message, promising to hire out a cinema for them.

"I was so moved, and it was so cool to see you guys send me a video, and I was really moved by that," he said in what Woodrow said was a four-minute-long video.

"I heard you guys were super, super pumped and excited to see live action Moana, so I'm going to find a theatre, rent it out, and you guys are going to see Moana.

"Love you guys, keep doing great in school, and, as Maui says, 'You're welcome'."

In the video, Johnson, who plays demigod Maui, extended the invite to the pupils' friends and family and said he would pay for all the sweet treats they could eat.

Woodrow said elsewhere in the message the 54-year-old displayed a knowledge of the school, its vision, its achievements, and its motto: Life In All Its Fullness.

"He said he thought that was great and that was what he told his daughters as well, so he spoke really warmly about us and who we are," he said.

The message was shown to students during an assembly about four weeks ago, but the school was only given permission to release the video on social media this week.

Woodrow told the BBC the school's excitement had been "really elevated to a whole other level" now the news had been shared with the public.

"The children were absolutely shocked [when they saw the video] and once they'd got over the shock of Maui himself talking to them, they absolutely loved it," he added.

"We watched it, and then we watched it again straight away, just so that they knew it was real and it was actually happening, it was incredible. We couldn't believe it."

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