Bob Iger and John Lasseter this morning told Disney's shareholders that Frozen 2 is officially in development. I imagine there was a lot of rejoicing. The studio has since sent out this official announcement, confirming the first four parties to be signed-on. "Its of-f-f-f-f-icial: Frozen 2 is in development at Walt Disney Animation Studios with directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee and producer Peter Del Vecho, the Oscar-winning filmmaking team behind Frozen. The news was announced at Disneys Annual Meeting of Shareholders this morning by Bob Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company; John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios; and actor Josh Gad, who provides the voice of Olaf from Frozen. A release date and production details are on ice for now." I wouldn't bet against Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel or Jonathan Groff coming back for more, though their deals are clearly still being ironed out. Piles of money that high can have thousands of wrinkles, but I'm sure everything will be smooth soon enough. Less obvious is what the story might entail, but Jennifer Lee is an honestly great screenwriter and with the full backing of Buck, Disney's brain trust and the full story team, they'll come up with something. I like Frozen more every time I watch it, and I'm definitely ready for more. I dare say we'll be waiting until late 2018, or beyond, but this could be well worth it. Will the core, knee-high audience have finally outgrown the film by then, however?
Brendon Connelly has been a film writer since the early 90s, with time on the staff of Orbit Magazine, Slashfilm, Bleeding Cool, Den of Geek and many more. He's a long time teacher of film studies and practical filmmaking classes, and has directed music videos, commercials, short films and more. His favourite film is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, his favourite food is pancakes or crepes, and he tries to live his life by the teachings of Kermit the Frog.
