Mothers beware: Elsa Mania is making a comeback in the not-so-distant future, as Disney has officially set the release date for Frozen 2, in November 2019.
The box-office breaking 2013 film that gave us earworm Let It Go will return to the kingdom of Arendelle and follow the story of two much-beloved princess sisters. The exact date is November 27.
Kristen Bell will lend her voice again to play plucky Princess Anna. Soprano Idina Menzel will return as the face that inspired retail pandemonium: Snow Queen Elsa.
The film took the box office by storm and instantly created Frozen Fever, when it was released in November 2013. It grossed $1.2bn (€1.1bn) and reinvigorated Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Despite the film making Walt Disney a pretty penny, the studio only announced in 2015 that there would be a sequel.
Dreams really do come 2!!! #FROZEN2 #itsofficial pic.twitter.com/qF6qTQlnqi
— Kristen Bell (@IMKristenBell) 12 March 2015
Bell later explained why. Speaking to movie news website Collider, she revealed that the studio wanted to perfect the story: "What I know about that whole team is that they wouldn’t just put something out to put it out.
“That’s why it took them so long to even announce that we were doing a second one. Generally, when you have a first successful movie, you want to make a second one. It took them a while, because they wanted to figure out what story they needed to tell and what would be important and engaging, and I think they found it."
In 2015, the studios released the short Frozen-verse film, Frozen Fever. They invoked the money-making name again when they announced Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, which will follow the titular snowman from the first film in a full-length feature of his own.
When Frozen merchandise hit stores, parents became Elsa-doll hungry. Disney made $5.3 billion (€4.8bn) in merchandise sales by 2015. The doll was expectedly sold-out often, and some were listed on ad sites for up to €500. You might remember a few incidents in toy shops, too.
Gardai were called to a toy store in Dublin after a fight broke out between customers desperate to get their hands on one weren’t able to to let it go.
We just hope that the next bout of Elsa Mania/Frozen Fever is a little more civil this time. Won’t anybody think of the kids?
