If any Disney project could be said to be a surprise success, it’s Frozen. While much of the geek community’s focus this winter was on the release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and young adults were keyed into Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Frozen opened with relatively little fanfare.
It then proceeded to take over, powered by the show-stopping musical number sung by Idina Menzel, “Let It Go.” The Disney take on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen proved to be so popular that, last Friday, a sing-a-long version was released to theaters. When you hear a movie’s signature number playing on a pop radio station inside a convenience store, as I did last week, it’s a good indication that a movie has become a phenomenon.
It helps that Frozen breaks the rules of much of the regular Disney film narrative and that it’s the most feminist movie Disney’s released since Lilo and Stitch. (No, I’m not forgetting Brave, which was more of a good try than a great movie.)
Next week, I’ll be traveling to California to Disney Studios to get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Frozen, including interviews with Co-Directors Christ Buck and Jennifer Lee, who also co-wrote Wreck-It Ralph, and Producer Peter Del Vecho,
I’ll also view a demonstration of the rigging process in the movie by character supervisor Gregory Smith and get a look at the recording of those incredible songs with Frozen‘s Audio Engineer, Gabe Guy. This should be a fascinating trip and I look forward to reporting back about what I’ve learned.
Disney’s also promised a preview screening of their next home video release, The Pirate Fairy. I suspect that, with the blockbuster success of Frozen, the release of this movie will receive more attention than most straight-to-video releases do.
