We now come to third place, but the #1 movie worldwide. And in many ways, despite only being in third place in the one race that matters (don’t @ me), this would become one of the most important movies of the decade. You could even make a compelling argument that it’s the greatest, most notable success story of the 2010s. Let’s talk about Disney Animation’s Frozen. In the kingdom of Arendelle, there lives two princesses. One princess, Elsa, has the power to control and create ice and snow. But due to a mishap while playing with her sister Anna, Elsa finds herself forced to hide herself and her incredible powers to the rest of the world, so as to make sure her sister is safe and she is not outcast by the kingdom’s denizens. But upon Elsa’s coronation as Queen, a celebration that allows the castle gates to be open to the public again, Elsa’s secret is revealed and through her anxieties and fears, she accidentally puts Arendelle into a permanent winter and runs away from the rest of the world. And thus, Anna, with the help of a rugged woodsman and a talking snowman, must find Elsa and find a way to reverse the curse and save summer.
The origins of Frozen go pretty far back in the history of The Walt Disney Company. All the way to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in fact. After Walt Disney finished up production on Snow White, the next logical question was simple: what’s next? And sure enough, Disney began negotiating with producer Samuel Goldwyn over a co-production of a biopic based on the life of author and poet Hans Christian Andersen. Goldwyn’s production studio would shoot the live-action segments, while Walt’s animation studio did animated segments based on Andersen’s many acclaimed works, including The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Little Matchgirl, and The Snow Queen, among others. That last one was a tricky challenge for Disney, as the character of the Snow Queen was difficult to adapt to the tastes of modern audiences. But when Disney was forced to make wartime propaganda for the US government, the plans fell through entirely, though Goldwyn still released a HCA biopic in 1952 with Danny Kaye as Andersen and earned six Academy Award nominations in the process.
It wasn’t until the late 90s, fresh off the Disney Renaissance, that the studio went back to the idea of a Snow Queen adaptation. But despite pitches from the likes of Glen Keane and Harvey Fierstein, every idea for the project was turned down with the movie completely scrapped in 2002. Michael Eisner then tried to get Pixar head John Lassetter on board on the heels of a planned contract renewal with the Emeryville studio. That fell apart once again, and the project laid dormant.
And then, Eisner left and Bob Iger took charge, acquiring Pixar and making Lasseter the chief creative officer of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. And with a love for the pre-production art of the previous Snow Queen adaptations, Lasseter convinced Tarzan director Chris Buck to come back to Disney after directing the Sony Animation title Surf’s Up. When Buck pitched a Snow Queen movie, Lasseter’s eyes lit up and production began for a traditionally animated title called Anna and the Snow Queen.
But once again, trouble came in making the Snow Queen, the antagonist of the piece, into an interestingthreat and create a compelling story around her. And with the underperformance of Princess and the Frog, Anna and the Snow Queen went back into development hell yet again. But in December 2011, fresh off the success of Tangled, Disney announced the project is coming back, was re-named Frozen, and set for release in November 2013 as a CGI feature. Chris Buck stayed on as director, but another key player joined the writing room in March 2012. Wreck-It Ralph screenwriter Jennifer Lee joined the project. Lee was in many ways the important linchpin in the film we now have.
Some key concepts were already there before she joined the film. Anna being a younger sister to Elsa, the snow queen, was an early decision made when the project kickstarted in 2011. To Buck, this served as an easy way to give stakes and connect the hero and villain together. The hook of a “frozen heart”, where Anna ends up saving Elsa, was also a guarantee. But a lot of shifts and changes were made by Lee to make the film more exciting and interesting. Lee decided to make Prince Hans a surprise villain at the end to help give a compelling reason for Anna to end up with the woodsman Kristoff, as well as fix the “frozen heart” problem. Lee used adventure epics like Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia as an influence for the scope and scale of the movie. Both Anna and the snowman sidekick Olaf went through several rewrites to make them not be as annoying as they were in earlier drafts.
But as we all know, the biggest breakthrough came from one certain song that just so happened to sweep the nation. The husband-and-wife songwriting team Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, best known at the time for the acclaimed musical The Book of Mormon, were no strangers to Disney. In 2007, they wrote the songs for the Disney World stage show Finding Nemo - The Musical (yes that’s a thing), and in 2011 wrote the music for Winnie the Pooh. So it was no surprise that Disney would have the Lopezes work on this movie. And as the duo were given the movie, they started to divert from the original plans Buck and Lee and Disney had in mind.
The Lopezes didn’t see Elsa as a bad guy like the producers did. They saw a scared, confused, vulnerable woman trying to understand and appreciate the incredible gift she has. While Bobby and Kristen were walking in the park, they began to think to themselves what it would be like to be Elsa. Not the character in the story, but Elsa the person. What it feels like to be who she is, keeping something as beautiful as her powers hidden away for so long. The idea that she is alone and free upon creating her own ice age and leaving the world behind. And at the same time, feeling so alone. And this led to the very catchy earworm we all know as “Let it Go”.
Buck and Lee loved the song. It was so well-written, so powerful, and with Idina Menzel cast as Elsa, this had the chops to be one all-timer of a performance. A "Part of Your World" for the new generation. And because both of them knew they had to make this song be built up to be as well as the song itself, Elsa, and the entire first act for that matter got a total rewrite. Jennifer Lee would go on to rewrite the entire film, turning Elsa into a protagonist and changing the motivations and dynamics of both Anna and Elsa. Elsa is a woman who shuts herself away from the world and Anna is a woman who is too extroverted for her own good.
During development, the animation process went through some developmental breakthroughs. Disney wanted to make sure the snow and its interactions with the characters were as believable and organic as possible. Several Disney animators visit Wyoming to study the physics of walking snow, and Caltech professor Kenneth Libbrecht was brought on to teach the animators the science of snow and ice. Several programs were created to help make the process easier for the animators, with Matterhorn being the most-used program. Matterhorn depicted realistic snow in a virtual environment and maintained the sticky quality found in snow. It was used in 43 different scenes in the film. Other tools were used to help in the design of Olaf, the movement of twigs and leaves, and the hair of characters like Anna and Elsa.
Going back to the story process, Jennifer Lee’s heavy contributions to the film’s development prompted Lasseter and fellow studio head Ed Catmull to promote Lee as director for the film in August 2012, which made Jennifer Lee the first woman to direct a film for Walt Disney Animation Studios. And Lee’s contributions to the screenplay continued well after her promotion. While the crew felt the story was done and ready in November 2012, according to producer Peter Del Vecho, the team realized the film wasn’t working in February 2013. So through February to June, five months before the film’s release, the film went through even more rewrites. Songs were rewritten, characters were removed, plot points were shifted. It reportedly wasn’t until the song “For the First Time in Forever” was added into the piece in June that the film finally satisfied everybody.
Also that June, Disney put out two different test screenings for Frozen in Phoenix, Arizona. One for families, the other for adults. A lot was riding on these screenings for the then incomplete project. Jennifer Lee and the rest of the story team put in a lot of work to make this film as good as it should be, and these test audience reactions would be an important factor as to whether this movie would land when it released later in the year. As it turns out, both audiences loved it. Really loved it. The reaction was so positive, both Lasseter and Catmull congratulated Lee for her work, and positioned the movie to be a hit when it released that November.
Before the film was released, box office experts believed Frozen would be successful. Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph were some of the biggest hits from Disney Animation in years, and there were literally no other kid-friendly titles releasing that holiday season. But with a lack of a strong male figure like Ralph or Flynn to attract boys, as well as an average marketing campaign that avoided any showcase of the sister dynamic or the catchy songs, the elements the film was known for, it was predicted the film would gross about $170-185 million or so. That all changed, upon its wide release on November 27.
Its opening Wednesday, after an initial first 5 days at the El Capitan Theater, set the scene for a very impressive holiday weekend. Its $15.2 million Wednesday was the biggest Thanksgiving opening Wednesday, beating Tangled’s previous accomplishment. By this point, the first batch of audience members saw the title and word began to spread about its quality. Not only was the film earning rave reviews, with some citing it to be the best Disney animated title since The Lion King, people saw several elements that made it unique from the other Disney Princess titles. Its characters, its music, its storyline. All of which seemed to captivate that initial audience. And sure enough, Frozen would see $67.4 million over the three-day and $93.6 million over the five-day. This made it the biggest Thanksgiving opening for a movie on both accounts, beating Toy Story 2’s then 14-year long record, as well as making it the second-biggest Thanksgiving weekend of all time, only behind Catching Fire the same weekend, as well as the second-biggest opening for a movie that did not open at #1. With strong reception and healthy initial sales, it was easy to say Frozen would hit at least $250 million. Maybe even $300 million with the lack of competition.
But after that weekend, buzz went through the roof. The hidden depth that wasn’t mentioned at all in the marketing as well as a catchy song made people more invested to check this film out. And almost overnight, despite Catching Fire’s objectively amazing box office, it was actually Frozen that would become the talk of the town. On the weekend after Thanksgiving, when heavy drops happen across the board, Frozen managed to see only a 53% fall, resulting in $31.6 million for that weekend. Not only did this mean Frozen became #1 in its second weekend, it also meant it earned the biggest post-Thanksgiving weekend in history. Breaking $30 million on one of the slowest weekends of the year is an unheard of feat, and showed people were excited to check this film out.
Weekend three, with The Desolation of Smaug taking up a lot of theater space, Frozen was undeterred by the competition. Dropping only 29%, Frozen saw a $22.6 million haul and a current total of $164.8 million. It was well ahead of what Tangled did in 2013, 43% ahead in fact. The gap rose even further on weekend four, with $19.2 million, a 15% decline. And then, the fifth weekend, Christmas weekend to be exact, rolled around. And things got crazy. While still at second place, Frozen leaped over 45% for an opening weekend of $28.6 million. By that point, Frozen was well above Tangled, with about $248.1 million in the bank. This made $300 million a certainty, with a chance at possibly even getting to $400 million. The sky was the limit for this movie going into the new year, and it was there when things really got crazy.
On weekend 6, Frozen actually returned to the #1 slot, dropping only 31% despite the holidays being over. And through January, February, and March, nothing stopped it from having record holds. To put it into perspective, when The Lego Movie, another animated title, earned almost $70 million, Frozen only dropped 10% upon its arrival. Frozen was in the top 5 for 11 weeks, and in the top 10 for 16 weeks, only leaving when it landed on Blu-Ray and DVD. And when the dust finally settled, Frozen earned $400.7 million, 4.3 times its 5-day opening.
And this was just domestically. Overseas was just as crazy. It saw the biggest opening for a Disney animated title in Russia and it became the second-largest foreign film in South Korea. But Japan was the real story here. Opening to $9.73 million in the region, the film exploded in popularity there, helped by the already strong popularity of Disney films in the region, as well as catching on with teenage girls. It saw increases in its weekend gross over the next three weekends, stayed number one in the Japanese box office for 16 weeks, and saw admissions of nearly 18.7 million, with both the original and Japanese dubs becoming sensations. This resulted in Frozen grossing $247.6 million, becoming the third-biggest film of all time and the second-biggest foreign film, only behind Titanic. Along with impressive box office in every other region, Frozen earned $880 million overseas, resulting in an incredible $1.28 billion worldwide. This made Frozen the eighteenth film to hit $1 billion, the fifth-highest grossing film of all time, and the highest grossing animated movie in history.
And that was just the beginning. With such record-breaking numbers and incredible holds, Frozen became a phenomenon unlike any other. And in just a few short months, Frozen didn’t just become a Disney franchise, but the Disney franchise. Things already seemed like they were going in a crazy direction when there reports of merchandise shortages during the film’s release. "Let it Go" was also becoming a smash on the Billboard charts, becoming the first Disney tune since "Colors of the Wind" to reach the top 10, and becoming the ninth best-selling song of 2014. And as the months went on, people started to notice that kids were really getting into the music. It seemed like kids knew every line by heart and would sing any of the songs at a moment’s notice. They became obsessive of Anna and Elsa in a way that was never seen before by any other Disney character. Wait times for the characters at the parks were exceeding four hours. Elsa was even becoming a popular baby name after the film came out.
And sure enough, Frozen became a merchandising bonanza, with demand for Frozen products arriving just about everywhere. Shortages continued well into 2014, with reports that Disney sold $1 billion worth of Frozen merch in 2014 in the United States alone, including over three million Elsa costumes. Over eight million Frozen-themed books have been sold since 2014. There was a time when Frozen toys were a hotter commodity with girls than Barbie dolls. Home media sales were also incredible, with it selling 3.2 million units in the first day, as well as setting records in digital downloads. It earned over $308 million in home media sales altogether, with an estimated 7.5 million Blu-Ray copies sold, making it the most successful Blu-Ray in history. Deadline has estimated the film turned a profit of $400 million since March 2014, with it soaring even higher in the years to come.
And that’s just with toys. It appeared just about everywhere in the theme parks, with rides, stage shows, parades, and even an entire land set to be built in both Hong Kong Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris. Disney on Ice shows based on Frozen also popped up, and a Broadway adaptation of the film went into development in 2014 and premiered in 2018. In fall 2014, the ABC series Once Upon a Time released an entire story arc based on the movie Frozen, which saw the show get a huge boost in both ratings and popularity. In 2015, a short film titled Frozen Fever was released and played during screenings of the Branagh Cinderella movie. Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, a holiday special intended to go to television, also saw a theatrical play, airing before Pixar hit Coco, albeit to massive backlash.
And since then, Frozen has not lost any steam with kids or adults, with a recent short titled Once Upon a Snowman recently debuting on Disney+. In just a few short months, Frozen went from being a hit animated title to becoming one of Disney’s top 5 franchises. And as Frozen II proves, which we’ll talk about when I eventually reach 2019, this is a property that won’t go away anytime soon. But of course, that leads to one crucial question: why? Why did this film, of all the Disney animated titles, become so lucrative? Why did this become so beloved to a young generation? Why did this become bigger than Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King?
There’s a lot of different reasons you can point to, with a big one being the song selection and the popularity of Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph, but if I can explain it to the best of my ability, Frozen did so well because it both encapsulated everything people love about Disney while also serving as an evolution to the Disney formula. Frozen has just about all the characteristics and charm of the Disney animated tales of old. The artistry of Cinderella, the creativity of Snow White, the spirit of The Little Mermaid, and the characterization of Beauty and the Beast are all present here. And in many ways, Frozen, albeit somewhat obnoxiously, proclaims that it isn’t anything like the other animated fairy tales Disney put out. Elsa could have been written as a villain, and almost was in fact, but she wasn’t. A movie about sisters is still rare in animation. The heroic act of true love wasn’t from a handsome prince, but an act of sisterly love. There are several instances where the movie critiques the idea of a woman marrying a man they just met. It felt so distinct and fresh, as if Disney was evolving their formula and fitting in with modern sensibility.
This combination of nostalgia and evolution was nothing new for Disney. Films like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast adapted the classic Disney formula to modern sensibilities. And direct spoofing of the formula can be traced back to 2007’s Enchanted. But Frozen was the one that truly perfected that mantra, allowing for something that truly felt modern and distinct, while also not shying away from what people like about Disney movies in the first place. And through it all, Frozen would become the definitive animated franchise, with its tropes, ideas, and subversions continuing to play a part in almost all Walt Disney Animation Studios projects for years to come. And while there are plenty of success stories over at Disney within the entire decade, I think it’s fair to say Frozen is the biggest crowning achievement of them all.
