Frozen Fanatic?

Frozen: A Summary of the 2013 American Animated Film

• Frozen is a computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2013.

• It is the 53rd Disney animated feature film, inspired by the 1844 fairy tale The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen.

• The film was directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee and produced by Peter Del Vecho, from a screenplay written by Lee, and a story by Buck, Lee, and Shane Morris.

• It stars the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff and Santino Fontana.

• Frozen tells the story of Princess Anna as she teams up with an iceman, his reindeer, and a snowman to find her estranged sister Elsa, whose icy powers have inadvertently trapped their kingdom in eternal winter.

• During its theatrical run, the film was a significant commercial success, earning $1.285 billion in worldwide box office revenue, overtaking Toy Story 3 to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

• Frozen received two awards at the 86th Academy Awards, and numerous other accolades. It was the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film to win Best Animated Feature.

• In January 2015, the film became the best-selling Blu-ray Disc in the United States, which resulted in the film launching a franchise, including an animated short in 2015, an animated featurette in 2017, and a feature-length sequel, Frozen II, in November 2019.

• The plot follows Princess Elsa, who possesses magical powers allowing her to control ice and snow, often using them to play with her younger sister Anna. After Elsa accidentally injures Anna with her magic, their parents take them to a colony of stone trolls led by Grand Pabbie, who heals Anna but erases her memories of Elsa's magic.

• At the age of 21, Elsa is due to be crowned queen, but fears that her subjects will discover her magic and fear her. Elsa's coronation proceeds without incident, but she remains distant from Anna. Anna and Hans develop a romantic connection during the festivities, and he impulsively proposes to her, but Elsa objects when they seek her blessing. Hurt and confused, Anna protests, begging Elsa to explain her fear and isolation.

• During the film, Anna ventures to find Elsa and end the winter, leaving Hans in command. When Anna reaches Elsa's ice palace and reveals to Elsa what has become of Arendelle, a horrified Elsa confesses she does not know how to undo her magic, causing her powers to manifest themselves once more, and she accidentally freezes Anna's heart, mortally injuring her.

• Realizing that love is the key to controlling her magic, Elsa dispels the eternal winter, and gives Olaf a flurry small cloud to experience warmth. Hans is arrested and banished from Arendelle for his treason while Elsa cancels the trade agreement with Weselton to get back at the Duke. Anna gives Kristoff a new sleigh and the two kiss. The sisters are reunited, and Elsa promises never to lock the castle gates again.The Making of Frozen

• The original concept involved the emotional bond between siblings, not romance.

• The original plot had Elsa as evil, with Anna trying to get to Hans and Elsa trying to stop her.

• The composition of the song "Let It Go" forced a reimagining of Elsa as a more complex, vulnerable, and sympathetic character.

• The plot twist that Prince Hans would be revealed as the true villain only near the end was developed later.

• Anna's personality was a point of contention, with some colleagues wanting her to be more dysfunctional and co-dependent.

• Olaf was initially Elsa's obnoxious sidekick, but was changed to Anna's comically innocent one.

• The problem of how Anna would save Elsa at the climax was solved by story artist John Ripa.

• Frozen employed a unique artistic style by blending together features of both CGI and traditional hand-drawn animation.

• To create the look of Frozen, the art director researched extensively about Norway, and the team made research field trips to Wyoming and Quebec City.

• The single most daunting challenge facing the animation team was the short schedule of less than 12 months to turn the film's evolving shooting script into an actual film.

• The film's animation team was organized with character leads, supervising animators on specific characters, and an acting coach to help the animators understand the characters.

• The cinematography was greatly influenced by Jack Cardiff's work in Black Narcissus.The Making of Frozen

• Frozen was inspired by Norway, with landmarks including Akershus Fortress and Nidaros Cathedral featuring in the film

• The film was designed by Michael Giaimo, who wanted to incorporate Norway's fjords, architecture and rosemaling folk art

• Frozen was produced in the CinemaScope widescreen process, making it the first animated film to do so since 2000's Titan A.E.

• Giaimo employed a dedicated "costume designer" to ensure the costumes were historically accurate and had their own properties and behaviors

• The studio developed several new tools to generate realistic and believable shots, including Matterhorn, a snow simulator software application that created realistic snow in a virtual environment

• The film's English title was changed from The Snow Queen to Frozen to represent the movie's theme of a frozen relationship that needs to be thawed

• The songs for Frozen were written and composed by the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, who wrote 25 songs in total

• Christophe Beck was hired to score the film, with regional instruments such as the bukkehorn used to pay homage to the Norway-inspired setting

• The lead cast members recorded their vocal tracks before the songs had been orchestrated, meaning they heard only a demo piano track in their headphones as they sang

• For the orchestral film score, Beck worked with Lopez and Anderson-Lopez on incorporating their songs into arrangements in the score

• Frozen contains several elements specifically drawn from Sámi culture, such as the usage of reindeer for transportation and the equipment used to control these

• Michael Giaimo insisted on addressing costumes, in that he "knew from the start" it would be a "costume film."Summary Title: The Making and Release of Frozen

• The songs for Frozen were recorded by Boucher from July 22 to 24, 2013, and Beck's score was recorded by Stone from September 3 to 6 and 9 to 10.

• Sound played a huge part in making the film "visceral" and "transported," according to director Jennifer Lee.

• To obtain certain snow and ice sound effects, sound designer Odin Benitez traveled to Mammoth Mountain, California, to record them at a frozen lake.

• Frozen was translated and dubbed into 41 languages and required native speakers to ensure the film felt "local."

• Frozen was released theatrically in the United States on November 27, 2013, and it was accompanied by the new Mickey Mouse animated short film, Get a Horse!

• A sing-along version of Frozen was released in 2,057 theaters in the United States on January 31, 2014.

• Frozen was released for digital download on February 25, 2014, on Google Play, the iTunes Store, and Amazon Video.

• Frozen earned $401 million in North America and an estimated $883.5 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $1,284,540,518.

• The film became the fifth-highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing animated film, and the highest-grossing 2013 film.

• Frozen was re-released on Ultra HD Blu-ray and 4K digital download on October 1, 2019.

• The Walt Disney Company filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in California federal court against Phase 4 Films for retitling the Canadian film The Legend of Sarila as Frozen Land in the United States and having a logo similar to the Disney film.

• Frozen made a profit of over $400 million.