Disney’s Frozen, 2013’s Best Animated Feature Film according to the Oscars and Golden Globes, is almost one year old, but Disney and ABC are working hard to make sure fans feel it’s still fresh and new.
ABC’s special on Tuesday, Sept. 2, The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic, announced that Disney will release an animated short in the spring of 2015 called Frozen Fever. The short, starring the original cast of Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad, brings the gang back together again with a song written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, but more importantly, it takes the Frozen brand beyond its $1.3 billion in worldwide ticket sales.
And that’s not all. Anna, Elsa and Kristoff all will make their live-action debuts this fall on Once Upon a Time, ABC’s fairy tale drama. The show has been promoting Elsa’s appearance in Storybrooke since last season’s finale, and all summer since. Once’s Tumblr has been encouraging fans to submit fan-made art of what a Elsa/Regina showdown might look like and of what Storybrooke might look like under Elsa’s leadership:

The music of Frozen is one of its highest selling points. The movie’s soundtrack sat at the top of the Billboard charts for months and Idina Menzel’s performance of “Let it Go” was viewed more than 320 million times on Disney Animation’s official YouTube channel. A sing-along version of the film also debuted in theaters across the country and a karaoke app for the movie’s songs launched this May. The film is even getting a Broadway musical, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced in January.
Tapping Disney’s own talent, Disney Channel celebrated the hot days of summer this July by releasing a special music video of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman,” starring its channels “Circle of Stars.”
Read more at Ad Age and The Hollywood Reporter.
Brief Take: With Disney/ABC’s focus on producing a steady stream of content surrounding the popular brand and not on overextending into a corporate social strategy, the film has been able to stay afloat beyond DVD sales and merchandising (though that certainly helps too).
[Images courtesy of Disney/ABC]
Tags: