3. Frozen Was In Development Hell For Seventy Years
Well, in a manner of speaking. Walt Disney Productions first considered adapting Hans Christian Andersens The Snow Queen in late 1937, even before Snow White and the Seven Dwarves had premiered. The reason it took so long to get here was a problem that persisted for the next several decades: how to get the very dark Snow Queen character and her story to be relatable and palatable to modern audiences. The 1937 project was shelved by 1942 because of World War II, and ultimately shelved indefinitely alongside other Andersen adaptations, including The Little Mermaid. It was revived again in the late 1990s but progress froze by 2002. The next thawing-out of the Snow Queen idea occurred in 2008, when director Chris Buck wanted to do something different rather than an out-and-out adaptation, tentatively titled Anna and the Snow Queen. However, it was scrapped yet again when, yet again, the character of the Snow Queen wasnt translating well to screen. Finally, following the success of Tangled, developers finally broke through the ice with the idea of Anna being the sister of the Snow Queen, who was revitalized into Elsa. This paved the path for the soon-to-be classic tale that hit theatres in 2013, 76 years after its inception. So, next time you hear what must be the two hundredth bad YouTube cover of Let it Go and curse the forces that brought Frozen to the world, remember that it took three-quarters of a century to get to our screens and, surely, it was worth the wait.
Canadian student. Spends probably an unhealthy amount of time enthusing over musicals, unpopular TV shows, and Harry Potter. Main life goal: to become fluent in Elvish.
