Frozen II

Frozen II is an animated drama/fantasy film produced at Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The sequel to the studio's 2013 animated feature, Frozen, it is the 58th animated feature in the Disney Animated Canon.

Synopsis
Why was Elsa born with magical powers? The answer is calling her and threatening her kingdom. Together with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven, she'll set out on a dangerous but remarkable journey.

Cast

 * Idina Menzel as Elsa
 * Mattea Conforti as Young Elsa
 * Kristen Bell as Anna
 * Hadley Gannaway as Young Anna
 * Jonathan Groff as Kristoff
 * Josh Gad as Olaf
 * Evan Rachel Wood as Queen Iduna
 * Delaney Rose Stein as Young Iduna
 * Sterling K. Brown as Lieutenant Mattias
 * Alfred Molina as King Agnarr
 * Jackson Stein as Young Agnarr
 * Martha Plimpton as Yelana
 * Rachel Matthews as Honeymaren
 * Jason Ritter as Ryder Nattura
 * Ciarán Hinds as Grand Pabbie
 * Santino Fontana as Hans
 * Alan Tudyk as Duke of Weselton
 * Paul Briggs as Marshmallow
 * Maia Wilson as Bulda
 * Stephen J. Anderson as Kai
 * Halima V. Hudson as Halima
 * Jeremy Sisto as King Runeard
 * Aurora as The Voice

Development
Development on a theatrical Frozen sequel was officially announced at a Disney Shareholder meeting, alongside being confirmed by Jennifer Lee on her Twitter account. Co-directors of the original film, Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, as well as producer, Peter Del Vecho, all returned to helm the project. The filmmakers had not originally considered making a sequel to Frozen at all and the road to its creation was bumpy. Co-director Chris Buck began by considering that what would be next for Elsa, having been in hiding for so long and finally being accepted by her people. One question the filmmakers were repeatedly asked was the question of why Elsa has her powers, which led them to explore this question for the sequel. As part of the production process, the filmmakers took part in a four hour psychological personality test, assuming the roles of the characters and answering questions posed by an actual psychologist. In doing so, they discovered that Anna was a "fairy tale" character, optimistic and human, while Elsa was a "mythic" character, with the weight of the world on her shoulders and special powers. The film's visual developers worked on special finishing touches to the characters' outfits, including lining inside the fabric of every character's clothes. Both Elsa and Anna wear pants when traveling into the Enchanted Forest, Jennifer Lee stating that they wear what's right for the situation and she loves that they can wear anything. The film is said to be "darker" than the original Frozen and Kristen Bell stated of this that "'...we don’t give kids enough credit — because they’re projections of us and we want them to be happy because we want ourselves to be happy all the time. We don’t give them enough credit for their ability to digest complex situations and trauma and struggle."

Following concerns about cultural appropriation regarding the original Frozen, Disney signed a contract with the Sámi people to respectfully portray Sámi culture. As the culture was to feature in an even greater role in Frozen II, the Sámi parliaments of Norway, Sweden and Finland, along with the Saami Council reached out to collaborate with the film's producers. The contract also included an agreement that Disney would produce a dubbed version of Frozen II in one Sámi language and participate in cross-learning initiatives that contribute to Indigenous communities in Scandinavia.

On April 25, 2017, the official release date for the Frozen sequel was announced by Disney. On September 28, Josh Gad and Disney announced on social media that recording for the film had officially begun.

In 2018, Jennifer Lee was the appointed replacement for John Lasseter following his discharge from The Walt Disney Company. With her attention now focused on several facets of the studio, writer Allison Schroeder was brought on to cowrite the script for Frozen 2. On November 1, it was announced that the Frozen sequel had been pushed up a few days from November 27, 2019 to November 22, 2019. On February 13, 2019, the film was retitled as Frozen II.

The film's soundtrack was released on November 15, 2019 in CD, digital, and vinyl formats.

Reception
Advance ticket sales for Frozen II set a first day record for an animated film for both Fandango and Atom Tickets. The film outpaced sales of Toy Story 4 to set the new record. Based on early sales, the film was predicted to open with at least $100 million over its opening weekend, with more optimistic predictions setting it at $125 million. Globally, the film was predicted to shatter the previous Toy Story 4 record with a $242 million global opening weekend.

The film's first reviews appeared on November 14, 2019. As of November 22, 2019, the film holds a score of 76% fresh with 169 reviews on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus stating that " Frozen II can't quite recapture the showstopping feel of its predecessor, but it remains a dazzling adventure into the unknown." Mara Reinstein of U.S. Weekly stated that while the film was not as spectacular as the original, it was "still a beautifully designed, sharply written and toe-tapping piece of family entertainment." Nicholas Barber of BBC was one of those who was critical of the film, stating that the film "takes an ice age" to get going and describing it as "an avalanche of half-formed ideas." On November 19, 2019, the film was certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Releases
The film's red carpet world premiere was held on Thursday, November 7, 2019 in Hollywood, California, with members of the cast and crew in attendance. Although the film's official U.S. release is November 22, 2019, a number of theaters are offering multiple showings as early as 6 P.M. on November 21, 2019.

International premieres

 * November 20, 2019 (Germany)
 * November 21, 2019 (Portugal)
 * November 22, 2019 (Japan/United Kingdom)

Trivia

 * Frozen II takes place three years after the events of Frozen.
 * Frozen II was originally set to be released sometime after the film Gigantic, though their order of release was switched after a major shift in premiere schedules for Walt Disney Pictures films.
 * This is the sixth sequel in the Disney Animated Features canon, after The Three Caballeros, The Rescuers Down Under, Fantasia 2000, Winnie the Pooh, and Ralph Breaks the Internet.
 * The teaser trailer became the most viewed animation trailer of all time, with a record-breaking 116.4 million views in 24 hours.
 * Anna voice actress Kristen Bell unthinkingly spoiled the entire plot of the film to her children, only realizing afterwards that it placed her in breach of contract and she could potentially be sued by Disney. She then told her children that if they revealed any information, their teeth would fall out.
 * People magazine released a special Frozen II issue filled with secrets from the film.