Disney announces a fresh 'Frozen' bonanza
Rather than Let It Go, Disney is making its Frozen franchise snow.
The Mouse House has announced an extension of the brand called Frozen Northern Lights, featuring books, animated shorts and a TV special.
It's no surprise that Disney is capitalizing on the animated movie's success: After all, the film raked in $1.2 billion globally, won two Academy Awards in 2014 (best animated feature and original song), sold 4.1 million soundtracks and is headed to Broadway in 2018.
Broadway will get 'Frozen' in spring (2018)
Frozen Northern Lights is "a brand-new original story and it’s going to feature all of the Frozen fan favorites," says Andrew Sugerman, executive vice president of Disney Publishing Worldwide. The idea, he says, began as "a partnership with the original filmmakers taking some of the rich storytelling that was in the film and finding a way to bring a new story to life that lived within the overarching Frozen franchise."
The bonanza will launch July 5 with a 224-page book, Journey to the Lights by Suzanne Francis, to be published by Random House. Nine more books are planned through the end of 2017, and the first kicks off with beloved original characters Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven — plus a new protagonist named Little Rock — as the gang aims to restore the glimmer of the Northern Lights.
This November, Frozen Northern Lights will get the Lego treatment with four new animated shorts from the Lego Group, airing on the Disney Channel. They'll feature the film's original voices, including Kristen Bell (Anna), Idina Menzel (Elsa), Jonathan Groff (Kristoff) and Josh Gad (as the snowman Olaf). A TV special presenting the shorts will also air on the Disney Channel around Thanksgiving.
Why Lego-ize Elsa and friends? Their wit and humor fit, says Sugerman. "We thought it was a unique take on the storyline through their eyes," he says.
Social media is getting in on frigid fun, too: Disney will soon launch the Instagram account @DisneyFrozen.
'Frozen Fever' brings new princess dresses
This isn't the first time that Disney has added fresh powder to Frozen since the film's release in 2013. Last year, the seven-minute Frozen Fever short was released in theaters in front of Disney's live-action Cinderella starring Lily James and Cate Blanchett. (In that tale, Elsa decided to throw her sister Anna a birthday bash, only to be derailed by a cold.)
"It really comes down to quality of storytelling," says Sugerman. "If we can create great stories that stand on their own and take these characters deeper into the world, then everything will evolve from there. With Northern Lights, we feel like we did exactly that."
