#frozen10

[virtual-winter]

Today is my 10th anniversary as a Frozen fan!

October 20th 2014 marked my first day as a fan of Frozen after watching Once upon a time season 4's first episode "A tale of two sisters" that starred Elizabeth Lail as Anna, Georgina Haig as Elsa and Scott Michael Foster as Kristoff.

As I've previously gone over in this post a long time ago, this series was my gateway into the Frozen fandom and which made me watch the movie a month later!

A big warm hug to all the friends I've made in the fandom in the past few years and here's for holdin' on tight for another ten! 😅

[frozen10fanzine]

With her love, Anna could hold up the concert 🎶

[greatqueenanna]

Previous Versions of Frozen (Rewrite)

The development of Frozen is famously known to be messy and obscure. Messy, because of the many last-minute changes made even months before the film released. Obscure, because the many versions there were before the final film are kept secret, with only slight tidbits being released and shown, leaving the previous stories being up to one's own imagination.

In my previous attempt to uncover the previous versions of Frozen, there was a lot of information left out or unknown to me at the time, and even some things I got wrong. Thus, I wanted to do a more in depth look at the possible previous Frozen stories, and update any misinformation.

Feel free to comment sources if there is something I missed.

Part 1 - Before Frozen

As everyone knows, Frozen was first considered to be an adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen. However, over the development of the film, the creative team had decided that it would no longer be an adaptation, as at this point, they were just inspired by the fairy-tale and some of its themes – a Snow Queen, an Evil Mirror, an Act of True Love, and a Frozen Heart. Everything else was left alone, with only fan interpretations of what else could’ve been used, but never officially stated.

Before Frozen was even considered, there were couple attempts at adapting The Snow Queen. A common mistake made by many fans is incorrectly assigning concept art, songs, and story ideas from earlier adaptions of The Snow Queen. However, these versions are not actually Frozen, but completely different stories and attempts to adapt the fairy-tale.

The Biography Attempt -- 1937 – 1942

The first attempt at adapting the Snow Queen was to include the story in a bio-pic of Hans Christian Anderson. The Snow Queen was one of the stories that were going to be told in this bio-pic, alongside his other famous works. The rocky development for this bio-pic began in 1937, and ended in 1942 when the USA entered World War II, as Disney shifted into time on War Propaganda, officially halting the production of this project.

The first completed concept of the Snow Queen segment specifically was coined by Mary Goodrich in 1938, a researcher, who wanted to explore the theme of regeneration through faith. It was very faithful to the original tale, and was actually fully complete. However, Norwegian-born researcher Karl Berggrav dismissed the story. He said that while it was a technically good film, with the story being well-written and had no loose ends, it was boring and uninspired.

"This story rounds off everything nicely and ties up loose ends, but it is very uninteresting and just fades out into nothing, or worse than nothing, banality. It is hard to make good animation out of it.” - Karl Berggrav, The Art of Frozen, pg. 10

Walt Disney himself attempted to adapt the story in 1940, but as a live action and animated film. Hans Christian Anderson everyday life would be filmed in live action, while his stories were to be animated. This was going to be a co-production with Samuel Goldwyn and his new studio Samuel Goldwyn Productions, where they would film the live-action sequences.  

The Snow Queen -- 1990 – 2006

There were multiple attempts at adapting The Snow Queen during the renaissance era and after. Harvey Fierstein took a chance to pitch an idea for The Snow Queen, but it was shot down. Even Glen Keane attempted to try his hand at an adaption, but just couldn’t find a way to turn the Snow Queen into the sort of fully realized character.

Then, a new team took on the adaptation in 2000. The main idea that the creative team wanted to have was to omit the Trolls and the mirror, trying to explore different ways for Kai to be abducted by the Snow Queen. There was one version of Kai wanting to impress Erica (Gerda's first name change) by joining a whaling ship. The Snow Queen was often shown in artwork riding an orca all over the sea.

There were other versions that followed this initial premise with more comical side characters, ranging from penguins to walruses to, of course, Snowmen. The strangest outline for this version was how Greta (another name change for Gerda) was a devious gold digger, leading Kai to marry the Snow Queen instead.

The Snow Queen was described as a 'Taming of the Shrew" type character, who had a frozen heart that needed to be melted away by the warm and loving Kai.

I love The Taming of the Shrew idea. Take Martha Stewart. She’s tough, smart — a worthy adversary. If she were a doormat of a woman, no one would go after her. -Michael Eisner, Disney War

The artwork for this version was considered to be beautiful and inspiring, but the narrative was simply not compelling enough. Thus, the story was ultimately scrapped and shelved.

The below concepts are often mistaken for early ideas for Frozen, often named early designs for Anna, Kristoff, and Elsa - however, they are actually from the 2000-2003 version of The Snow Queen, while others are from even earlier versions, and are featuring completely different characters.

The project was later brought back in 2006, but not for animation - but instead as a stage musical for Tokyo DisneySea at thier Broadway Music Theater. It was going to be directed by Amon Miyamoto, written by John Weidman and Glenn Slater and Alan Menken writing the music. However, it was also scrapped.

The reason I bring this version up, is because a song penned by Slater and Menken is often pushed as early love song that Kristoff was supposed to sing. However, it was not a Kristoff song at all. Love Can't be Denied was a song that was written for this stage musical, with no real details about who it was written for or its purpose in the plot.

There are many reasons claimed why, but it is often contributed to Disney wanting the Snow Queen Adaptation to be a film, not a stage show. Menken was even reported to try his hand at making it an animated musical, but it never went through.

For years, (Disney had been) working on “The Snow Queen,” first as a stage piece, and then as an animated film, but that got shelved. Clearly, animated films are big commitments and it takes a lot for Disney to greenlight one. - Alan Meken, Jim Hill Media

Part 2 - Previous Versions of Frozen

After John Lasseter was given the reigns of Disney Animation Studios after the Disney merger with Pixar, he wanted to try and adapt this story again. Lasseter convinced his old friend Chris Buck to come back to the studio, and try his hands at another Snow Queen Musical film. Thus, the development of Frozen officially began.

"I pitched several ideas to John, and ‘The Snow Queen’ was one that he'd been interested in for a while. I pitched a musical version of it that he seemed excited by. So we started developing that project. This was back in 2008, around September.” - Chris Buck, The Art of Frozen, pg. 11

Starting 2008, Frozen went through a few versions before Jennifer Lee, Robert Lopez, and Kristen Anderson-Lopez entered the production in 2012. While Jennifer Lee was aware of the project while she was working on Wreck-it-Ralph, as the company typically has round-tables for their animated featured where all of their writers can give notes, she was not officially brought on as writer and then later as director, until 2012.

Both of these versions featured the introduction of Anna and Kristoff as replacements for Gerda and Kai, as adults instead of children. However, there were a few different ideas for The Snow Queen character that would prove to be the biggest obstacle.

Anna and the Snow Queen 2008-2010

The first version of Frozen was called Anna and the Snow Queen. There seems to have been a couple attempts at perfecting this story, none of which really made it to the final cut, due to the difficulty of making the Snow Queen character compelling. This version was meant to have hand-drawn animation at first.

Anna and the Snow Queen is very obscure, and not much exists for its early story ideas other than a few ideas sources from interviews and concept art by Claire Keane.

The Snow Queen Character (she was given the name Elsa at this stage) was based off of Bette Midler (some sources say that she was also meant to be her voice actress) She would take on a very Diva persona, and was of course a villain. Anna at this time was depicted as 'up-tight', and often was shown as some sort of secretary or assistant to the Snow Queen.

Kristen Bell was cast as Anna before anyone else had joined the team, after she had initially auditioned for the role of Rapunzel for Tangled. Josh Gad was cast a little after, however the Olaf he was voicing was a very different character, much like Anna.

"I was originally involved in the project when it was a 2D effort and it was called Anna and the Snow Queen, and it was completely different. Completely different. Megan Mullally was playing Elsa and it wasn’t really about sisterhood at all. I think it had more to do with the source material of Hans Christian Andersen’s story. When I did that version, Olaf was a different character entirely." - Josh Gad, MSN Entertainment

What the story for this version is often conflicting. Anna goes to the Snow Queen to have her heart frozen after she is dumped at the alter, releasing Elsa from an ice prison. The below concept art by Claire Keane shows Anna as a bride looking for the Snow Queen, supporting this interpretation.

However, other artwork by Keane suggests that Anna is possibly working for the Snow Queen as an assistant of some kind, as shown in the concepts below, and is also supported by the 'up-tight' secretary Anna concepts. It is possible, however, that after going to the Snow Queen to freeze her heart, she ends up working for her. You can also see the Bette Midler inspirations in some of Elsa's character designs.

After this period, Anna and The Snow Queen was actually shelved for around one year in 2010, before being brought back in 2011 and renamed to Frozen. It was also around this time that the idea for it to be hand drawn was scrapped, with the film shifting to 3D animation.

It was seemingly brought back with a story about a prophecy that says that Arendelle would be destroyed by a "Ruler with a Frozen Heart." The characters in the story would assume that this was Elsa, the self-proclaimed Snow Queen (Anna and Elsa were not royalty at this time, nor were they sisters) only for it to be revealed that it was Hans (possibly named Admiral Westergaard).

Frozen was to open with a prophecy that "a ruler with a frozen heart will bring destruction to the kingdom of Arendelle." We're then introduced to Anna, our pure-hearted heroine, and Elsa, an unrelated evil Snow Queen. We learn Elsa is a scorned woman; she was stood up at the altar on her wedding day and froze her own heart so she would never love again. Both Elsa and the audience assume she's the villain from the prophecy. Fast-forward to the final act: Elsa creates an army of snow monsters to attack our heroes while Kristoff has "a Han Solo moment" and comes to help Anna. To halt Elsa's attacking army, the two-faced Prince Hans (Admiral Westergaard) triggers a massive avalanche—not caring that the avalanche also puts Anna, Elsa, and all of Arendelle in jeopardy. Anna realizes Elsa is their only hope, so she convinces her to use her powers to save the kingdom. The twist is that the prophecy from the beginning is actually not about Elsa, but about Hans—he's the one with a metaphorical frozen heart because he's an unfeeling sociopath. Elsa's heart is then unfrozen allowing her to love again. - Peter Del Vecho, Entertainment Weekly

This is also supported with what Santino Fontana says in his interview with Paul Wontorek. He claims that he was hired and paid for his lines in 2011, way before Jennifer Lee was officially involved with the project in 2012, and just after Frozen was brought back from its year hold.

This puts into perspective any claims about Jennifer Lee basing Hans' character after her ex-husband, or that Hans was originally meant to be a good guy until they needed a new villain to replace Elsa. Hans was always meant to be the real villain of Frozen and was seemingly created as soon as Anna and the Snow Queen became Frozen.

The Story of Sisters -- 2011-2012

During one of the round-table sessions, in which Jennifer Lee was involved in but was still not working on Frozen, someone within the session suggested that Anna and Elsa should be sisters. This was the first major breakthrough that helped shape the story.

This famous version of Elsa (onionElsa!) is meant to be based off of Amy Winehouse. It is unclear when Elsa's backstory transitioned from being that of a woman who was dumped at the altar, and being the more tragic villain that was forced to hide her magic.

Regardless, it was explained that this Elsa had ran away from her kingdom, and later on kidnapped Anna away from her wedding with Admiral Westergaard, trying to freeze her heart so that Anna would understand how she felt. It ended in the same way, however, with Hans being revealed as the true villain and Elsa getting a redemption.

It was also around this time that Anna's character was also getting a much needed re-working. Anna's 'up-tight' personality was removed with the help of Kristen Bell, who always had issues with Anna’s characterization. She pushed for Anna to be more quirky and awkward, with a strong desire for love and companionship. Idina Menzel was also brought on at this time, where the two actresses prepared a song (Wind Beneath my Wings) to see how their voices would match up.

This deleted scene below showcases this version of Elsa, voiced by Idina Menzel.

"We did a version where the Snow Queen was the villain, but we wanted to end with them reunited, and it was very hard to redeem her at the end. We decided on an adventure about two people who initially misunderstand each other; it allows for the bonding at the end.” - Peter Del Vecho, The Art of Frozen pg. 12

Jennifer Lee started on the project after all of this was already established, and tried to work out quite a few things with the story. Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez also came onto the project, and tried to write a few songs for this version - although, they didn't really like the story all too much.

One of the songs we know from this version was We Know Better. Interestingly, this is actually not the full song. It is supposed to end with Elsa's turn to becoming ‘evil’, and Anna becoming her 'up-tight' persona. This was omitted with a lot of earlier scenes of Elsa's evil nature (with the exception of the above clip) because the creative team wanted to try and distance Elsa away from this persona.

Another deleted song was called Cool With Me. @stitchkingdom saw a concert where Kristen and Bobby Lopez performed some deleted songs, some of which were never performed anywhere. Cool with Me was a song that came before Life's Too Short, and has details about Elsa kidnapping Anna and wanting her to feel her own pain.

The next breakthrough for the story was when the Lopezes wrote Let it Go. John Lasseter had often made notes about delving deeper with Elsa's character asking why she is a villain. Jennifer Lee also pushed for more depth when she was writing Elsa. However, Let it Go was the trigger that helped se things in motion for a new version of Frozen.

“The minute we heard the song for the first time, I knew that I had to rewrite the whole movie.” - Jennifer Lee

Now, Elsa was being completely re-written as a sympathetic character - no more villainous tendencies, no more intentionally cruel stunts. Elsa was made into a tragic character who was forced to hide who she was, and only wanted to protect Anna and her kingdom from her powers.

Olaf was also re-written at around this time, going from an obnoxious side-kick of Elsa's to a more innocent companion that would represent the love between the sisters.

The newest version of the story was a mash-up of the original prophesy version talked about above, but with new elements. This included a story about Anna feeling less than Elsa, and feeling like nothing more than a spare. Elsa was of course changed to her new sympathetic character, and runs away from Arendelle from fear rather than being angry at anyone.

The Duke of Weselton was also theoretically introduced at this stage, but not as a red herring to Hans, but instead as a care taker to the sisters after their parents passed away. Hans was also supposed to gift Anna a special snow globe that had some kind of thematic importance.

The following songs and scenes are some of the ideas from this version of Frozen.

At this point, the creative team was pretty confident that they had the story planned it out and it was ready to go. However, the team had decided that they were still having issues with the plot.

The Final Months - 2013

From February to June of 2013, there were extensive rewrites done to the film before having a test screening with both a family audience and adult audience.

One of the elements that were changed was the prophecy. After so many years, this story element was finally dropped. Then, Hans' sociopathy was explored more extensively by Jennifer Lee, and a character twist was pushed by John Lasseter to make his villainy more iconic.

Anna's feelings about being a spare was removed, as the creative team wanted to focus more on Anna wanting to find love rather than trying to prove herself (she was sounding a bit too much like Hans). The Duke was changed to being his current self.

Kristoff was actually changed as well, making him a bit more kind. However, when his character was changed is not clear, but we do know that Johnathan Groff pushed for him to be a bit more kind as well.

Some of the songs were also removed and replaced with the current versions we know and love today.

Conclusion

Frozen’s 10th Anniversary is coming up (here or passed depending on when this is read) making it a perfect time to talk about the journey Frozen went on throughout the years. It’s amazing to look back at all the attempts and stories, and see where Frozen ended up. It’s because of all these attempts, successes, failures, and hard-working people that we were able to get the Frozen that we have today.

Happy Frozen 10!

Sources:

The Art of Frozen by Charles Solomon

Disney War by James B. Stewart

Disney's 'Frozen,' Formerly 'The Snow Queen,' Will Be CG Rather Than Hand-Drawn by Russ Fischer for Slash Film

Countdown to Disney's Frozen by Jill Hill for Jill Hill Media

Lost Media Wiki - Frozen

Frozen Original Ending Revealed - James Hibberd, Entertainment Weekly

Show People With Paul Wontorek Interview: Santino Fontana on "Act One," "Frozen" & More

Interview: Frozen's Josh Gad MSN Entertainment

Scriptnotes, Ep 128: Frozen with Jennifer Lee

Exploring the Songs of "Frozen" with Kristen Anderson-Lopez '94

Kristen Bell Explains How She Became Anna in 'Frozen' | The Watch | The Ringer

[snowflaketale12]

Happy Siblings Day to everyone... 💕

I'd also like to take this opportunity to introduce an amazing Frozen fanzine project called 'Water Has Memory: A Frozen Decade.' You can participate in the project by submitting your creativity, including art, photography, short fiction, non-fiction, and poetry for a specific year.

If you're interested, you can find more details on their Tumblr @frozen10fanzine . Be sure to act fast, as the deadline is approaching soon!

[toriofthetrees]

Alternative edit of my piece for Water Has Memory

[secretsofthestorymakers]

Happy 10th Anniversary of Frozen!!!!! ❄️🥹🩵

Frozen came out in theaters on November 27th, 2013. I saw it opening weekend. I was 8, my sister was 5. Now it’s 2023, ten years later. I am 18 years old and in college. And I still love Frozen. I could tell dozens of stories about what Frozen has meant to me over these ten years. Some of my most vivid memories of playing with my sister were about Frozen. I remember reenacting parts of the story, changing it a bit to fit what we wanted in the moment. When Frozen II came out in 2019, I remember going to see it on opening night. I remember the entire theater laughing so hard at Olaf’s recap and all crying when Elsa froze and Olaf faded away. That Christmas, I got the Art of Frozen II, which introduced me to analysis of the story through the symbolism in Elsa and Anna’s costumes. During the pandemic, Frozen was one thing that was guaranteed to make me happy. I wrote so many analyses and creative projects during that year and into the next two when I felt alone at school. I even wrote about Frozen in my college application essay. And now it’s been announced that we get two more Frozen films; the magic will continue for years to come.

From the time I was 8, playing as Elsa and Anna with my little sister to now, the way I see the story has changed over time but my original love for it hasn’t wavered. Frozen is a story that tells us that love is stronger than fear. It shows us the power of true love in a dark, fear-stricken world. It shows many ways to love, and many ways to express it. And that is powerful.

Frozen has truly had such a huge impact on global culture and on so many of us as individuals. Its universal appeal and powerful themes contribute to the pure magic of it. For ten years, Frozen has been inspiring us, enchanting us, bringing us joy. As we move into the next decade, I know it will continue to have that magic. Frozen took the world by storm back in 2013, and hasn’t released its hold. So, for me and for everyone else who has experienced the magic of this timeless story, “let the storm rage on.”

[bigfrozenfan]

Only 7 Days left for the fanzine, the deadline for 2013 and your memories about the experience watching Frozen I.

Send your submission via email or on Tumblr to: Email: frozen10fans@gmail.com Tumblr: frozen10fanzine.tumblr.com

[frozen10fanzine]

Ahem (For Frozen10)

shoutout to the people working for hours on content that only gets ten notes. i’m kissing you tenderly on the forehead as we speak

[frozen10fanzine]

As Promised....

8 people, 8 months, 3 social media accounts, and 23 contributions later, we present to you...

Our Love Letter to Frozen, for the 10th Anniversary (if a tad late).

Anna & Elsa have discovered new memories in Ahtohallan - our memories, the fans of Frozen. They found it as the Fifth Spirit. As Sisters.

You can find them here.

As a free, downloadable PDF.

Thank you for all your love and support,

the Water Has Memory Team

[toriofthetrees]

My Piece for Water Has Memory

Happy Belated 10th Anniversary, Frozen!

[frozen10fanzine]

Elsa has discovered new memories in Ahtohallan

Release: July 1, 2024 ❄️

But for some reason, she can’t access them.

She's tried everything! Her own magic, the assistance of the spirits, even Northuldra wisdom! Nothing works!

But Elsa has a feeling.

It’s the same feeling that told her to trust the voice that brought her north to Ahtohallan. It’s the same feeling that told her the spirits of the Enchanted Forest are good. Now, that feeling is telling Elsa to talk to her sister.

Anna, the Queen of Arendelle.

The sisters don’t quite know it yet, but those memories they are about to find are yours.

Introducing...

A fanzine, for fans, by fans! Created and shared for 6 months!

Elsa and Anna will descend into the depths of Ahtohallan to find our memories of Frozen. You see, Elsa and Anna together are the Fifth Spirit. To see these memories they need to work together to part the ice. As they do, they will find more and more memories through each year, through a whole decade! They will find everything—the movies, the books, the spin-offs—and our memories too!

Those memories are your creativity!

Submissions are closed ❄️✌🏻

We are calling YOU, the fans of Frozen, to share your creativity! Art, poems, photography, non-fiction, short fiction! Frozen has touched so many hearts… what does your heart have to say about it? What year means the most to you? What are your memories?

Let’s show Anna and Elsa together!

If you are so inclined, you can find more information below:

Water Has Memory: A Frozen Decade is a fan project in the form of a fanzine created and shared over 6 months - starting with the 10th Anniversary, November 27, 2023 to April 27, 2024 the End of May 2024.

The fanzine will be in chronological order over the ten years that Frozen has been with us (2013-2023). Each memory that is submitted will be placed in the appropriate year of the contributor's choosing.

At the end of this 6-month journey, the fanzine will be brought together as one PDF.

The submissions period is OPEN. We are accepting submissions for EVERY YEAR. Submissions WILL CLOSE April 12, 2024. Submissions for each year will be open until we reach the maximum submissions for that year.

There will be a maximum of 10 SUBMISSIONS accepted per year.

We are accepting submissions in the form of: Art, photography, short fiction, non-fiction, poetry - Art – All art accepted EXCEPT FOR animatics and longform comics - Photography – All photography accepted except for 18+ content - Short fiction – Fanfiction is welcome! Word count: 1000 words max, 500 words min - Non-fiction – Word count: 700 words max, 400 words min - Poetry – 20 lines max, No shorter than a Haiku

The means of submissions can be found in two places. On THIS TUMBLR and through our email, frozen10fans@gmail.com. When you submit your piece, please include what name/handle you would like to sign your work with, what year (2013-2023) you would like your piece to be placed under, if you so choose your bio of no more than 100 words (to be used when the full fanzine is brought together at the end), and if you so choose an image/character/picture to be used alongside your bio (to be used when the full fanzine is brought together at the end).

Please DO NOT submit a piece unless you are certain you can commit the time and energy needed for the project (i.e. communication, meeting the appropriate standards, punctuality, adaptation to change, etc.)

Please understand that this is a project for fans OF ALL AGES. We are PG-13 here at most. There is no hate for 18+ content, this is just not the place for it. That said: OFFENSIVE CONTENT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. This includes: - Hate speech - Gore - Bullying/Gatekeeping/Shaming THIS IS NOT AN 18+ PROJECT - No NSFW content - Keep the language appropriate

If you have any more questions, please reach out on our tumblr or at frozen10fans@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing your memories ❄️

[valererene]

Sorry folks, looks like another online shopping day with Valere Rene due to the bad road conditions! Let's make this fun though, now through midnight, use code FROZEN10 for 10% off your total order! We may try and open the shop this afternoon, roads permitting! Have another fun day shopping with us online, all in stock orders will ship tomorrow! #snow #discountcode #couponvode #frozen #frozen10 #vrhlove #snowday #style #macbook #onlineshopping #online #shoptillyoudrop #retailtherapy #caninfever #coffeeandmascara #coffee (at www.vrhandbags.com)

[frozen10fanzine]

The first memory Elsa & Anna see

[frozen10fanzine]

A Memory From Water Has Memory

A Fanzine Celebrating Ten Years of Frozen

From Jacob, the Year of 2019

"Writing"

"Anna's Journey"

"Love"

[toriofthetrees]

Stay tuned 😉

❄️

❤️ I'm here for you ❤️

[frozen10fanzine]

Frozen Through the Years

Yearly Spotlight: 2023

Written by @toriofthetrees

This year marked...

Frozen’s 10th Anniversary

It was wild.

Starting off with a bang, in February Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that Frozen III was in development, later confirmed by Josh Gad. Idina Menzel and Jen Lee confirmed it in June, with Jen Lee going on to say that she would not be directing this installment of the franchise. However, she confirmed that she knew the person who was, she loved their story, and she trusted them completely.

Her enthusiasm did not go unnoticed.

On top of the 10th Anniversary for Frozen (November 27) this year also marked the 100th Anniversary for Disney Studios as a whole (October 16). To commemorate both, much of the activity peaked towards the last three month of the year.

The hashtag #Frozen10 was created to celebrate the anniversary.

On October 11, the Forces of Nature podcast was released over several installments. It was met with mixed reviews; some enjoyed it, some were more critical of it, and most agreed that while it was fun, it did not have the chops to be a major installment of the Frozen franchise.

On October 16, Disney released a short film called Once Upon a Studio to commemorate their centennial celebration. It aired on ABC and showed the hustle and bustle of Disney Studios as everyone (all of our favorite characters) prepared for the big celebration! Elsa, Anna, Kristoff (and technically Hans) were among the many classic Disney characters that appeared!

Two novels were released this year. The first book was the first installment in the Disney Legends trilogy entitled Fixer Upper, written by Jen Calonita. It tells the story of Kristoff’s childhood and life before he met Anna in Frozen. The second novel, an anthology of short stories, was created specifically to celebrate #Frozen10. It is called All is Found, and it brought together 10 authors to write 10 short stories to celebrate the anniversary. It was edited by Heather Knowles and Mari Mancusi, veterans in non-film Frozen lore.

November is the month things started reallly picking up. The merchandising train at Disney rolled out a lot of Frozen merch, including limited edition dolls of the sisters specifically for the 10th anniversary. On November 16, Bob Iger announced a fourth installment of the franchise, with multiple voice actors and creators tied to the project confirming it later that same day. This coincided with the Grand Opening ceremony of the World of Frozen at Disneyland Hongkong. Jen Lee joined in this celebration, with the gates to the park opening four days later.

She informed the world on November 22 that Frozen III and Frozen IV were one story across two installments.

The anniversary itself was on November 27. Disney released a press release on their official website commemorating all that had happened in Frozen history (kind of like what we are doing with these blog posts). And, of course, the merchandising train spun out once again to give us all new merch specifically for the #Frozen10 celebration.

Towards the end of the month, the Frozen song playlist was added to Spotify and Season 5 of Disney Speedstorm was released with Frozen characters.

The year ended with exciting activity from the fandom! The Youtuber GeekCritique worked closely with the Arendelle Archives to create a video detailing the history of Arendelle. The video was released on December 23 and managed to make headlines! The other major project was a fanzine celebrating #Frozen10. Inspired by All is Found, several fans came together to create Water Has Memory: A Frozen Decade. Within the zine are the fandom's Frozen memories, presented in the form of Elsa & Anna accessing them together through Ahtohallan.

Needless to say, this year was a major leap forward for all things Frozen. It gave so much to look forward to, and it was a sizable way to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of this beloved story.

Stay Tuned for More

👆🏻 Click above if you want to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Frozen. The due date is April 12, 2024.

4 Days Left

We look forward to seeing your memories ❄️