Animated Feature Film

After a long journey through story treatments, FROZEN was finally commissioned by Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2011. The screenplay was written by Jennifer Lee and directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee. Wife-and-husband writing team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez wrote the film’s seven songs. FROZEN premiered in 2013 to critical success, became the highest-grossing film released in that year and highest-grossing animated film of all time, and won the Academy® Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (“Let It Go”).

FROZEN’s creative team created an original story – inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” – that captured the imagination of audiences worldwide. The idea of centring the story around two sisters came early on. Initially, however, the sisters were the story’s hero and villain. It wasn’t until Kristen and Robert began writing “Let It Go” that they discovered Elsa wasn’t a villain, but a woman afraid of her power and very misunderstood. From there, the story as we know it took shape. FROZEN is the first Disney animated feature to have a woman director, and Jennifer Lee is the first female director of a feature film that grossed more than $1 billion. Also, FROZEN is the first Disney animated fairy tale that does not revolve around a romantic love story.