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Credit: Inside the MagicDisney is counting on the mega-popular Frozen series to turn its fortunes around, but instead of bringing a third movie in the franchise to theaters, it’s going straight to Disney+ streaming.
When the first Frozen film premiered in 2013, its ascendence as one of the flagship properties of Walt Disney Animation Studios and a highlight of the most recent Disney Renaissance was by no means a given.
The movie, loosely inspired by “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen, had been in various states of development for years before director Chris Buck, screenwriter Jennifer Lee, and songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez came on board and turned the chaos into a billion-dollar box office hit.
It also helped cement Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, and Santino Fontana as some of the most valuable members of the current Disney stable of stars.
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Frozen became the highest-grossing animated film of all time (until overtaken by the 2019 CGI Lion King remake) and the biggest film of 2013.
It also spawned the enormous hit song “Let It Go” and a sprawling multimedia franchise that includes Disney Parks attractions, video games, short films, board games, a canonical narrative podcast, a sequel (that grossed even more than the original), and two more planned films in the imminent future.
The Frozen franchise also produced a Disney Theatrical Productions stage musical, which debuted on Broadway in 2018. Since then, numerous productions have toured the planet, and a particularly acclaimed version in London’s West End is currently coming to an end this September.
But Frozen fans are not going to have to wait for the official Frozen 3 (which is scheduled to be released in November 2027) to get a new third film in the series.
At the recent D23 event, which also revealed the development of a stage version of the Hugh Jackman musical The Greatest Showman (2017) and the return of Robert Downey Jr. to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was announced that a film version of the West End Frozen: The Musical will premiere on Disney+ in 2025 (per TheaterMania).
#DisneyonBroadway just tore the roof off the Honda Center with numbers from The Lion King, Hercules, Frozen, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and the newest in the development – The Greatest Showman! My musical theatre Broadway geek was fully activated! #D23 #Disney #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/aps3HwbbnE
— Carla Renata (@TheCurvyCritic) August 10, 2024
The Disney on Broadway sequence of the evening also revealed that a musical stage version of Hercules (1997) and a long-gestating live-action remake were in development. However, the biggest announcement was that Frozen is getting a pro-shot full-length musical movie, which is fitting considering the franchise’s outsized importance for modern-day Disney.
The current cast of the West End Frozen includes Rhianne Alleyne, Marianne Bardgett, Rebecca Botterill, Gabrielle Cocca, Laura Emmitt, Jemal Felix, Jordan Fox, Molly Francis, Matt Gillett, Dominic Adam Griffin, Jordan Livesey, Isabella Glanznig Santos, Ben Irish (Pabbie), Justin-Lee Jones, Aoife Kenny, Harriet Samuels, Jacqui Sanchez (Queen Iduna), Jak Skelly (Oaken/Bishop), Caitlin Tipping, Anna Woodside, Rodney Vubya, Oliver Brenin, Ashley J Daniels (King Agnarr), Lizzy-Rose Esin-Kelly (Bulda), George Hinson, Jonathan Milton, and Ed Wade, all of whom can assumed to be seen in the upcoming movie.
More than ever, Disney is currently leaning into a schedule of sequels, remakes, and franchise extensions, so it is no surprise that the company is attempting to leverage Frozen in any way that it can. It is slightly unusual, though, that the Frozen musical film is being directly sent to the Disney+ streaming service rather than trying to squeeze some extra box office grosses by presenting it as a special theatrical event.
Related: Disney Puts ‘Frozen,’ ‘Toy Story’ and More on Hold After ‘Inside Out 2’ News
On the other hand, the Mouse House has been finding it extremely difficult to turn a profit on Disney+. While a recent quarterly earnings report claimed that combined streaming services for the company had finally made money, it has turned out that both Disney+ and Hulu still lost money and were essentially bailed out by ESPN+ profits.
This is despite more than doubling the cost of Disney+ since it was first launched and adding advertisements to the service. At this point, it is clear that the Mouse is running out of ideas on how to make money off streaming.
One of the few ways it has left is making Disney+ exclusive content, which is likely why the new Frozen movie landed on the platform and skipped theaters. Will that be enough to keep subscribers? Only time will tell.
Will you pay for a Disney+ subscription to watch content like the new Frozen musical?