If you (or more likely, your kids) are still singing the songs from Disney’s smash hit “Frozen” more than a year later, don’t worry — you’ll have a whole new set of songs in the not-too-distant future.
Disney announced plans for a “Frozen 2,” much to the delight of children everywhere and questionable enthusiasm from parents still trying to “Let It Go” from the first one. While there is no official release date as of yet, it’s planned for 2018.
So there’s plenty of time to brush up on your “Frozen” trivia with these 25 behind-the-scenes facts.
Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell tried out for “Tangled” first.
Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell both auditioned for Disney’s 2010 “Tangled” role of Rapunzel. Although that didn’t pan out, it was those auditions that helped them land the roles of Anna and Elsa.
There’s a hidden code in some of the main characters’ names.
The characters of Hans, Kristof, Anna and Sven are a tribute to Hans Christian Andersen, the author of “The Snow Queen,” which inspired “Frozen.” Say the names quickly in sequence and hear the similarity.
Where did the footprints go?
When Kristoff & Sven have left Anna at the castle and go back to the mountain, they’re stepping in the snow, leaving footprints. But when the cloud appears over the castle and they return, there are no signs of their footprints.
It’s a mystery! Or maybe just an interesting mistake.
Elsa is the oldest of all Disney Princess.
All the Disney Princesses have distinct similarities — good will towards all creatures, inner and outer beauty, beautiful singing voices…and they all rocked it at the box office. By that standard Anna and Elsa both fit the bill.
There are currently 11 “official” Disney Princesses, but Anna and Elsa are expected to be added in short order and when they are, Elsa will become the eldest by a large margin. At 21-years-old, she’s well ahead of the others who are all in their teens.
The director is melting glass ceilings all over the place.
Director Jennifer Lee was the first woman to direct a Disney animated feature.
Lee came to Disney to work on the screenplay of “Wreck-It Ralph” and was asked to stay on to write “Frozen,” eventually taking on co-directing duties with Chris Buck.
In addition to being the first female to direct a Disney film, she’s also the first writer at any major animation studio to become a director and the first female director of a feature film that earned more than $1 billion in gross box office revenue.
Find the hidden Olafs.
During the song “In Summer,” there are two hidden outlines of Olaf’s body — one in his drink cup formed by ice cubes, and one formed by the clouds in the sky when he’s lying on the picnic blanket.
Why didn’t she fall off the edge?
In “Let it Go,” after Elsa releases her cloak, an overhead shot shows she’s about 30 feet short of a gap, walking forwards, on a flat expanse of snow. She then keeps moving towards it while singing, which would have taken her right up to the edge. She then runs forwards in a wide shot, but instead of falling off the edge she should be right next to, she runs up over a hill that appears from nowhere before she creates the steps to bridge the gap.
Queen Elsa was intended to be the villain.
Even though Elsa was originally written as the antagonist, when the character’s major song, “Let it Go,” was played for the producers, they concluded that the song was not only very appealing, but its themes of personal empowerment and self-acceptance were too positive for a villain to express.
The story was rewritten to have Elsa as an isolated innocent who is alarmed upon learning that her powers are inadvertently causing harm.
The designers stayed in an actual ice hotel.
The production team visited a hotel made out of ice — the Hotel De Glace located just 10 minutes from Downtown Québec City — for design inspiration. It’s the only ice hotel in North America. It is built every year in December and is open from January to March.
The hotel actually makes it’s own snow so that is suitable for building. The frame of the ice hotel is built of metal and then the ice sculpture goes on top of this. The walls are up to 4 feet thick and the beds are made of ice. However, a wooden base and a mattress are added and the bathrooms are heated. Thank goodness.
The disappearing sword.
When Prince Hans finally confronts Elsa, he is not wearing his sword. The sound of his sword being drawn is heard while Anna is on screen, and when Hans reappears he has his sword in hand but still no scabbard.
Disney is magical, clearly.
Elsa was in a hairy situation.
When you think of a Disney Princess with lots of hair, Rapunzel comes to mind. She was animated with 27,000 CGI strands of hair. Elsa blows this stat away.
Her hair took a long time to develop because of the braid, which measures a whopping 420,000 strands of hair.
An average human only has around 100,000.
Anna could have been free?
It is revealed on Elsa’s coronation day that Anna had stayed inside the palace the whole time that the gates were closed, even though the only reason the gates were closed was to control Elsa’s powers.
This means Anna could have gone outside and had a normal life whenever she felt like it.
Kind of a bummer there, huh?
A slightly inaccurate instrument.
The lute was a musical instrument owned by Kristoff that he used to perform songs for Sven. However, it had four strings, but only three tuning pegs.
How many people did it take?
Elsa’s castle needed at least 50 animators to create and it changes color with her emotions — blue is happy, red is fear, and yellow is anger. The special effects team working on “Frozen” also created a snowflake generator to automate their snow animation. This meant that they could randomly create 2,000 unique snowflake shapes.
In total, the movie took 600 people 2.5 years or three million hours to complete.
Where did her hat go?
When Anna and Kristoff are thrown down the stairs by Marshmallow, Anna’s hat is missing. Her hat is back on her head in the next shot. Good thing, too. It’s cold out there.
Anna has 3 voices.
For the song “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” three different actresses provided the singing voice of Anna: Katie Lopez as Young Anna, Agatha Lee Monn as adolescent Anna, and Kristen Bell as teenage Anna.
Agatha is the daughter of the film’s writer and director Jennifer Lee and Katie is the daughter of the songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.
“Let It Go” was written in just one day.
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez wrote “Let It Go” in a single day.
The idea began when the story outline they were given called for “Elsa’s Badass Song.” The two began by envisioning the song with an “emo” undertone before switching the focus and asking themselves what it would feel like to be “the perfect exalted person, but only because you’ve held back this secret.”
They threw phrases at each other and Lopez was able to improvise the song’s first four lines on the spot.
They went back and composed the rest of the song by alternating between improvising melodies on a piano and brainstorming lyrics on a whiteboard. It worked, as “Let It Go” went on to break a number of pop music records; becoming the first song from a Disney animated musical to reach the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 since “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas peaked at number four in 1995.
Kristoff is based on real-life reindeer herders.
The character of Kristoff was influenced by the Sami people, who are indigenous to northern Norway.
Traditionally, the Sami have pursued a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding. Their best-known means of livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding. About 10% of the Sami are connected to reindeer herding, providing them with meat, fur and transportation and 2,800 are actively involved in herding on a full-time basis.
Mickey Mouse makes an appearance.
Did you notice the plush Mickey Mouse on one of the shelves in Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post and Sauna?
Probably not, but now you will.
Playing reindeer games…with a real reindeer.
To develop the character of Sven, Walt Disney Studios welcomed a real reindeer through their doors. This allowed the Disney animators to get the characteristics of a reindeer just right. They were surprised to see that reindeer use their back legs to scratch their ear – and this was shown in the way that Sven scratches in the movie.
A girl needs her chocolate…even if it has to come from another movie.
In a nod to another Disney production, Anna’s affinity for chocolate summons sweet treats all the way from the land of Sugar Rush in “Wreck-It Ralph.”
A throwback to Coppertone.
In the musical number “In Summer,” Olaf is on the beach and passes three different sand sculpture. The first one he passes furthest on the right is a nod toward the Coppertone sunscreen girl. Instead of a dog pulling down her bathing pants, the movie uses a seagull.
An appearance from Rapunzel.
Rapunzel and Eugene from “Tangled” appear briefly during the song “For the First Time In Forever.” Just after Anna sings “open up the gates” you will see Rapunzel and Eugene in the entrance to the Palace.
“Frozen” was a record-setting box office smash.
As of April 11, 2014, “Frozen” became both the highest grossing animated and highest grossing musical film of all time and the ninth highest grossing film of all time with a worldwide box office gross of $1.097 billion.
No Boogers, Please
There is a note in the end credits stating that Disney does not support the consumption of boogers, regardless of what Kristoff thinks all men are like.
Source: 22 Words
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