A “Frozen” sequel is officially in development, Disney announced Thursday.
The news was announced at Disney’s annual meeting of shareholders by Bob Iger, John Lasseter and actor Josh Gad, who provides the voice of Olaf in the original film. Shareholders got a preview of animated short “Frozen Fever,” a short that will run ahead of Disney’s “Cinderella,” the live-action remake of the classic fairy tale that opens Friday.
“We enjoyed making ‘Frozen Fever’ so much and being back in that world with those characters,” said Lasseter. “Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck have come up with a great idea for a sequel, and you will be hearing a lot more about it, and we’re taking you back to Arendelle. We are so excited about that.”
The original “Frozen,” which came out in November 2013, is the highest-grossing animated movie ever, having taken in more $400 million domestically and $1.27 billion at the worldwide box office.
#FrozenFever comes out in 2 days! See it playing only in theatres with @CinderellaMovie! #Cinderella https://t.co/zoQ1r9jJRN
— Disney Animation ●—● (@DisneyAnimation) March 11, 2015
Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff and Gad voiced the lead roles in the original film.
The success of the musical tale of Anna and Elsa cemented the rebound of Disney Animation and even generated a box-office phenomenon known as “princess power”; the hordes of young girls that were the film’s primary audience are the target demo for “Cinderella,” as well as the upcoming “Beauty and Beast” live action film starring Emma Watson.
Dreams really do come 2!!! #FROZEN2 #itsofficial pic.twitter.com/qF6qTQlnqi — Kristen Bell (@IMKristenBell) March 12, 2015
“Frozen” has generated profits across the company’s units, recently driving its stock to a 15-year high. Counting revenue from DVDs and television, Disney stands to make almost $1 billion in operating profit from the film, according to estimates from analysts from SNL Kagan and Gabelli & Co. That doesn’t include significant merchandise sales around the world and the Broadway show that is in the works.
Tony Maglio and Todd Cunningham contributed to this report.