Frozen is a 2013 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures.[8] Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's 1844 fairy tale "The Snow Queen",[1] it was directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (in her feature directorial debut) and produced by Peter Del Vecho, from a screenplay by Lee, who also conceived the film's story with Buck and Shane Morris.
The film stars the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad and Santino Fontana, with Alan Tudyk, Ciarán Hinds, Maia Wilson, Chris Williams, Stephen J. Anderson, Paul Briggs, Livvy Stubenrauch, Eva Bella, Maurice LaMarche, and Lee in supporting roles. The film follows Anna, the princess of Arendelle, who sets off on a journey with the iceman Kristoff, his reindeer Sven, and the snowman Olaf to find her estranged sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped their kingdom in eternal winter.
Frozen underwent several story treatments before it was commissioned in 2011. Christophe Beck was hired to compose the film's orchestral score, and Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez wrote the songs.
After its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on November 19, 2013, Frozen had its general theatrical release on November 27. It was praised for its visuals, screenplay, themes, music, and voice acting, and some critics consider Frozen Disney's best animated film since the studio's Renaissance era, and grossed over $1.280 billion in worldwide box-office revenue, becoming the highest-grossing animated film until the remake of The Lion King overtook the position in August 2019.[9][10] It finished its theatrical run as the highest-grossing film of 2013 and the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time. The film's songs, characters, storytelling elements, and appeal to a general audience were called a popular culture phenomenon. By January 2015, its Blu-ray home video sales led the US. The film's popularity spawned a franchise which includes an animated short in 2015, a 2017 animated featurette and two feature-length sequels—Frozen 2 (2019) and Frozen 3 (2027). Among its accolades, it won Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film, and two Grammy Awards.
Princess Elsa of Arendelle has magical powers of ice and snow. After she accidentally injures her younger sister Anna with her magic, their parents bring them to a colony of trolls led by Grand Pabbie. He heals Anna by taking away her memories of Elsa's magic. The king and queen decide that until Elsa learns to control her powers, they will close the castle gates and isolate her. Years of isolation creates a rift between the sisters and, when they are adults, their parents are killed at sea.
On Elsa's coronation day, the castle gates open to the public for the first time. Visiting dignitaries include the handsome Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. Hans proposes to Anna, but Elsa objects to the alliance and lashes out, accidentally revealing her powers to the terrified court. Accused of witchcraft by the scheming Duke of Weselton, Elsa flees to the North Mountain and feels free for the first time. She builds an ice palace and decides to live a hermit's life, unaware that her magic has plunged Arendelle into an eternal winter.
Anna ventures out to find Elsa, leaving Hans in command. She meets an iceman named Kristoff and his reindeer, Sven, and convinces them to bring her to the North Mountain. On the way they meet Olaf, a living snowman created by Elsa's magic. At the ice palace, Anna tells Elsa about what has become of Arendelle. Elsa's fear makes her hit Anna with ice, accidentally freezing her heart. In desperation, Elsa creates a giant snow monster and casts Anna out of the castle to keep her safe.
With Anna slowly freezing to death, Kristoff takes her to the trolls for help. Grand Pabbie says that only "an act of true love" can thaw her heart. Kristoff races back to the castle so Hans can give Anna true love's kiss. Meanwhile, Hans captures Elsa. Instead of kissing Anna, he says that he has been plotting to become ruler of Arendelle by marrying Anna and then killing both sisters. The sisters escape and Olaf helps Anna reunite with Kristoff, whom he has deduced is in love with Anna.
Hans confronts Elsa, saying that she has killed Anna. Elsa breaks down, which abruptly stops the blizzard she created. Seeing Hans about to kill Elsa, Anna sacrifices her chance to be saved by Kristoff and steps between Elsa and Hans. She freezes solid, which devastates Elsa. As she hugs her sister, Anna slowly thaws; her heroism is "an act of true love".
Realizing that love is the key to controlling her powers, Elsa ends the winter. Hans is arrested and exiled for treason and attempted assassination. Elsa appoints Kristoff the royal ice deliverer, and he and Anna share a kiss. The sisters mend their relationship, and Elsa promises never to lock the castle gates again.
Non-speaking characters include Kristoff's reindeer companion Sven, horses, and wolves.[38] Sven's grunts and snorts were provided by Frank Welker, who was not credited.[39]
Walt Disney Productions began exploring a possible live-action-animated biographical film of author and poet Hans Christian Andersen in late 1937, before the December premiere of its film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (the first feature-length, hand-drawn animated film).[41]: 10 In March 1940, Walt Disney suggested a co-production to film producer Samuel Goldwyn in which Goldwyn's studio would shoot the live-action scenes of Andersen's life and Disney's studio would animate Andersen's fairy tales.[41]: 10 After the United States entered World War II, Disney focused on wartime propaganda; this halted development of the Disney–Goldwyn project in 1942.[41]: 10 Goldwyn produced the 1952 live-action film Hans Christian Andersen, and Disney Animation shelved a number of unfinished animated projects (including The Snow Queen).[42]
Hans Christian Andersen's original version of The Snow Queen is a pretty dark tale and it doesn't translate easily into a film. For us the breakthrough came when we tried to give really human qualities to the Snow Queen. When we decided to make the Snow Queen Elsa and our protagonist Anna sisters, that gave a way to relate to the characters in a way that conveyed what each was going through and that would relate for today's audiences. This film has a lot of complicated characters and complicated relationships in it. There are times when Elsa does villainous things but because you understand where it comes from, from this desire to defend herself, you can always relate to her. "Inspired by" means exactly that. There is snow and there is ice and there is a Queen, but other than that, we depart from it quite a bit. We do try to bring scope and the scale that you would expect but do it in a way that we can understand the characters and relate to them.
– Producer Peter Del Vecho on the difficulties of adapting The Snow Queen[43]
Walt Disney Feature Animation began developing a new adaptation of The Snow Queen during the late 1990s,[44] after the success of its Disney Renaissance-era films (1989–1999), but the project was scrapped in late 2002 when Glen Keane reportedly quit[40] and worked on another project which became Tangled (2010). Before then, Harvey Fierstein pitched his version of the story to Disney executives but was turned down.[42] Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi, Dick Zondag and Dave Goetz reportedly tried their hands at it, but failed.[42] After a number of unsuccessful attempts from 2000 to 2002, Disney shelved the project again.[41]: 10–11 During one of those attempts, Walt Disney Company chair and CEO Michael Eisner supported the project and suggested director John Lasseter at Pixar after the expected renewal of Pixar's contract with Disney.[45] Negotiations between Pixar and Disney collapsed in January 2004, however, and the contract was not renewed.[46] Eisner's successor Bob Iger negotiated Disney's purchase of Pixar in January 2006 for $7.4 billion, and Lasseter was promoted to chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation.[47][48]
Development began in 2008, when Lasseter convinced Chris Buck (who co-directed the 1999 film Tarzan for the studio) to return to Walt Disney Animation Studios from Sony Pictures Animation, where he had co-directed the 2007 film Surf's Up. Buck pitched several ideas to Lasseter that September, one of which was The Snow Queen.[41]: 6, 11 Buck later said that his initial inspiration for The Snow Queen was not the Andersen fairy tale, but he wanted "to do something different on the definition of true love ... Disney had already done the 'kissed by a prince' thing, so [I] thought it was time for something new".[49] Lasseter had been interested in The Snow Queen for a long time; when Pixar was working with Disney on Toy Story in the 1990s, he saw and was "blown away" by some of the pre-production art from Disney's previous attempts.[41]: 6 Development began as Anna and the Snow Queen, and traditional animation was planned.[50] Josh Gad said that he first became involved with the film at that early stage, when the plot was still relatively close to the original Andersen fairy tale and Megan Mullally was going to play Elsa.[51] By early 2010, the project was in development hell when the studio again failed to find a way to make the story and the Snow Queen character work.[52][53]
On December 22, 2011, following the success of Tangled, Disney announced a new title for the film – Frozen – and a release date of November 27, 2013.[54] It was confirmed a month later that the film would be a computer-animated feature in stereoscopic 3D instead of the originally-intended hand-drawn animation, due to complex elements in the script requiring strong visuals.[40][failed verification] Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez joined the project and began writing songs for Frozen in January 2012.[55]: 44:00 It was announced on March 5 of that year that Buck would direct the film, with Lasseter and Peter Del Vecho producing.[56]
One of the main challenges Buck and Del Vecho faced after Disney placed The Snow Queen into development again was the title character, who was a villain in their drafts.[42] The studio traditionally screens animated films in development every twelve weeks, followed by holding lengthy "notes sessions" in which directors and screenwriters from different projects provide extensive "notes" about each other's work.[57][58][59]
Buck and Del Vecho presented their storyboards to Lasseter, and the production team adjourned to a conference room to hear his thoughts about the project.[42] Art director Michael Giaimo later called Lasseter the film's "game changer": "I remember John saying that the latest version of The Snow Queen story that Chris Buck and his team had come up with was fun, very light-hearted. But the characters didn't resonate. They aren't multi-faceted. Which is why John felt that audiences wouldn't really be able to connect with them."[42]
The production team then addressed the film's problems, drafting several versions of The Snow Queen until the characters and story felt relevant. The first major breakthrough at that stage was the decision to rewrite the film's protagonist, Anna (who was based on Gerda in "The Snow Queen"), as Elsa's younger sibling for a family dynamic between the characters.[42][60][61] This was unusual; a relationship between sisters is rarely a major plot element of American animated films, with the