Celebrating a Decade of Frozen
A decade ago today, the legendary El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California, hosted the grand opening ceremonies for a new film.
At the time, Disney held modest expectations for the historically significant title, which came from a co-directorial team who had never worked together.
Nothing about this project screamed blockbuster on paper, but its jaw-dropping success would define Disney animation for years afterward.
Yes, Frozen celebrates its tenth birthday today. Let’s look back at modern Disney animation’s greatest success story.
An Accidental Dream Team
Even today, you might now know Chris Buck by name, but the animator’s fingerprints are all over many classic Disney stories.
In 1981, Buck started with Disney by working in character animation for The Fox and the Hound.
Photo: Disney
Buck had a hand in creating two titles from the Disney Renaissance, The Little Mermaid and Pocahontas.
Eventually, Disney respected Buck enough to entrust him with Tarzan. His directorial debut became a box office blockbuster.
Photo: Disney
Later, Buck left Disney to work as a director on Sony’s Surf’s Up, but he returned to the fold when offered a rare opportunity.
In 1940, Walt Disney had entered into active development on an animated adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen.
Alas, those plans fell by the wayside due to World War II. However, Disney animators always hoped to make the project one day.
In the early 2010s, an ascending screenwriter cracked the story after a flukish set of events led her to Disney.
Photo: Disney+
This woman had taken a job to work on a former classmate’s project, a film called Wreck-It Ralph.
While there, the writer quickly developed a reputation for finding the funny AND the heart in the story.
Photo: Disney
Disney asked her to help Buck with his Snow Queen project, and she ultimately joined him as co-director.
That woman’s name is Jennifer Lee, and she currently holds the envious title of Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney Animation.
The Hollywood Reporter
In other words, Disney has identified Lee as the top storyteller at the world’s foremost storytelling company.
Honorifics like that don’t happen by accident. And while Lee’s Disney journey started with Wreck-It Ralph, everyone will always remember her for Frozen.
An Excellent Start and a Stunning Show of Strength
When Frozen held its grand opening at the El Capitan, audiences swarmed the theater, hinting at the film’s potential appeal.
During that one weekend in that single theater, Frozen earned $243,390.
The number one film in the country that week, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, only claimed a per-venue average of $37,971, less than 16 percent of Frozen!
When Frozen opened wide the following weekend, it nearly usurped Catching Fire as the number-one film in America, which nobody had predicted.
I know this because I was one of the talking heads doing the predicting that weekend.
Frozen earned $67.4 million during its opening weekend and a total of $93.3 million over the five-day Thanksgiving Week holiday.
That total actually surpassed Toy Story 2’s record-setting Thanksgiving debut in 1999. I’m not joking when I say that nobody in Hollywood projected that.
However, what happened next represents the stunning part. Audiences adored Frozen, giving the film the rarest of rare A+ Cinemascore.
As buzz grew for the project, Frozen sustained at the box office in a way that forced me to comment a full six weeks later.
At the time, I stated:
“From the day before Thanksgiving until Christmas Day, the instant animated classic finished in first place exactly five times out of 29 days.
Photo:Disney/ABC Television Group
“From December 26th until January 6th, a period of 12 days, Frozen has finished in first place eight times.
“The number two movie over Thanksgiving was the number one movie over Christmas.”
Photo: DisneyFilms aren’t supposed to get stronger over time. Their opening weekend should be their best one for box office…but not with Frozen!
Throughout the 2013 holidays, fans discovered the story of Anna and Elsa anew. And they loved every second!
Frozen Fever Ensues
For some Disney fans, we will always remember the timeframe of 2014-2016 as the time that Frozen Fever overwhelmed the parks.
Disney added interactions with Anna and Elsa and so much more. Within a year, Disneyland offered:
- Anna and Elsa’s Royal Welcome
- For the First Time in Forever – A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
- Freeze the Night! A Family Dance Party
- Olaf’s Snow Fest
- Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post
Friends, Disney hadn’t planned any of this in the days leading up to Frozen’s release! If they had, these activities would have debuted in 2013.
Instead, park officials spent the totality of 2014 coming to grips with the fact that Frozen was the hottest Disney intellectual property since The Lion King.
On September 12th, 2014, Disney announced something that simultaneously broke hearts and caused them to soar with joy.
EPCOT chose to close Maelstrom at the Norway pavilion forever, replacing it with Frozen Ever After.
Photo: Disney
That attraction opened on June 21st, 2016, and the crowds proved so large that Disney couldn’t meet demand.
A friend of mine and her young daughter arrived at Rope Drop. They stayed until well past dinnertime, but they never got to ride Frozen Ever After.
Image Credit: Disney
Technical glitches forced repeated ride shutdowns, and Disney eventually had to send home some very disappointed fans.
Thankfully, she lived in the area and could return. Her child’s tears were very real that night, though.
Credit: Disney
Almost as if by osmosis, an entire generation of children fell in love with Anna and Elsa, completely and intensely.
We had a running joke on Halloween during this timeframe that seven out of ten children dressed as Frozen characters.
These kids could have been literally anything, but Frozen Fever had taken hold.
Photo: Disney
Frozen II and a Merchandising Empire
Let’s be honest that Disney had never intended to make a Frozen sequel. The Hans Christian Andersen story doesn’t work like that.
Disney fans hungered for more of Anna and Elsa so much that park officials had no choice, though.
Image Credit; Disney
In 2019, Frozen II debuted. The film sated the appetite of Frozen fanatics, who once again swarmed theaters for the project.
Frozen II managed something rare for a sequel to such a popular film. The second film earned $1.45 billion, thereby surpassing Frozen’s $1.29 billion.
Photo: Disney
In fact, Disney released an animated short between the two.
Olaf’s Frozen Adventure debuted before 2017’s Coco and played at least a small part in that film’s surprisingly good $72.9 million five-day Thanksgiving Week debut.
Photo: Disney+
For a time, people would go see Olaf, Anna, and Elsa in anything! In fact, you can watch Olaf Presents animated shorts on Disney+ right now!
The demand for Frozen exceeded anything Disney could have projected.
Photo: Disney
While the merchandising division offered some Frozen gear in 2013, the marketing machine didn’t fully ramp up until 2014 and 2015.
Since then, Frozen has turned into a merchandising juggernaut.
As I mentioned in a discussion of Disney’s most lucrative franchises, Frozen has earned roughly $14 billion…and counting!
Not coincidentally, Disney has promised a third Frozen film and maybe even a fourth! Those announcements came straight from the mouth of CEO Bob Iger.
Photo: Disney CEO Bob Iger (Getty Images)
Disney now views the Frozen brand in the same light as Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, and Toy Story.
Remarkably, all those other franchises date back to the 1990s or earlier. Frozen just turned ten today!
MickeyBlog Logo
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!
