Fourth edition (top) of the Sister Spin™️!

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

Yearly Spotlight: 2020

Written by @secretsofthestorymakers

This year, as we can all recall, the world was locked down by the COVID-19 pandemic. That was reflected in the new Frozen content that was released; it ranged from short and sweet Olaf shorts to the emotional and in-depth story that is Dangerous Secrets.

Throughout April and May, Disney released a series of short animations on YouTube called At Home With Olaf. Most of them had no talking or music, but were simply cute moments of Olaf making a discovery or exploring something new. One of them did feature an original song titled "I Am With You," with Olaf writing a letter to someone.

In June, Myth: A Frozen Tale released in VR on Oculus Quest as a way for Disney to test its virtual reality capabilities. Also in June, the docuseries Into The Unknown: The Making of Frozen II released on Disney+, providing fans a behind-the-scenes look into what it took to make Frozen II. Once Upon a Snowman was also released on Disney+ in 2020, a funny 8-minute short of Olaf’s origin that viewers didn’t get from the movie. It was released to mostly positive reviews!

The year ended with the release of the novel, Dangerous Secrets, in November. This original story by Mari Mancusi (the first major Frozen novel to primarily feature the sisters' parents, Iduna and Agnarr) massively expanded the lore of the Frozen universe. It caused many fans to feel a connection to Iduna and Agnarr that wasn’t really plausible from the movies alone.

Despite the pandemic, 2020 brought the release of a lot of new Frozen content that expanded the lore of the Frozen universe in really interesting ways.

Stay Tuned for More

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

The Deadline for Water Has Memory: A Frozen Decade is April 12, 2024!

Elsa & Anna have discovered new memories in Ahtohallan. They can only access it together, as sisters. As the Fifth Spirit. 

Those memories are YOURS, from over a decade of Frozen. If you wish to share your memories of Frozen and celebrate the 10th Anniversary, dive deep into her sound…

Water Has Memory

Email: [email protected] Tumblr: frozen10fanzine.tumblr.com TikTok: @water.has.memory

Yearly Spotlight: 2019

Written by @toriofthetrees

After six long years, 2019 saw the release of the long-anticipated sequel, Frozen II.

The lead-up up to the release was intense to say the least.

The first teaser trailer premiered in February, opening with Elsa on a black-sand beach stripped down to her bare essentials, barefoot, ready to take on a raging sea. She attempted twice to cross the torrential waters before the trailer turned to Anna’s shock of hundreds of diamond-shaped glass covered in strange symbols, taking over Arendelle. Following closely behind were several moments of Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff, and Anna taking on dangerous challenges, and a show of strange, foreign magic. All of this was centered around this new, mysterious setting known only at the time as an autumnal forest.

It gave just enough of a preview to hook millions.

The trailer was viewed and downloaded several million times on Twitter and YouTube within a short amount of time. In the fandom, a storm of news, posts, speculation, and discussions broke out over several platforms, too chaotic to keep track of. The months that followed the teaser were absolutely brimming with excitement! Across cinemas, television, and the internet—both in the US and internationally—came many trailers, sneak peaks, and posters about the upcoming movie. Alongside this came leaks as well, all of it sparking speculation in the fandom over what the plot of the movie could be.

Countless books about Frozen II came onto the market before the film was even released, notably without the end of the film printed within their pages. This lead to fans in many locations to protest the shops selling these books, wanting their money back.

Most of these protests lead to no results.

Success for Disney Studios, specifically. contributed to the exposure for Frozen II. ~In March, Disney invested billions of US dollars in company acquisitions across the film and TV industry, creating the most powerful media company in the world in the USA. ~This was the year of the 6th Disney D23 Expo, the biggest Disney fan event of the year! It was held on August 23–25 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California, showcasing news and pictures around all the new Disney parks, resorts—and movies! Including Frozen II! ~On November 12, 2019, Disney launched its streaming platform Disney+ in several countries ~2019 ultimately proved to be Disney's most successful cinema year to date, regardless of which new film was released!

All of this led up to the release of Frozen II on November 20, 2019 in most countries (unfortunately some countries had to wait until the beginning of January).

This new installment to Elsa and Anna’s story saw the sisters and their found family making a long trek away from Arendelle… in order to save it. Mysterious magics send them up north to the Enchanted Forest, that is covered in an impenetrable mist. Yet, it parts for them. The deeper they go into the forest, the more they discover about themselves, their family, the spirits, Arendelle… so that only one thing can be said for certain: Nothing will ever be the same again.

This film was polarizing.

In the cultural zeitgeist, it was a massive success like its predecessor, exceeding Frozen as the highest grossing animated film of all time. It received mostly positive reviews and it would go on to be nominated for multiple awards, including an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. The Disney merchandising machinery was running at full speed and earned the company many more millions within a short amount of time. The limited edition dolls were sold out on the same day as release! However, it notably did not have the same cultural reach that its predecessor had. “Into the Unknown,” to many, was not comparable to “Let it Go.” And the film was nominated aplenty, but never actually received any awards.

However, it was within the fandom that this polarization was seen the clearest.

Frozen II made good on its promise that nothing would ever be the same for these characters. The sisters, though still as close as ever, no longer lived under the same roof by the end of the film. Elsa abdicated her crown for her duties as the Fifth Spirit and Guardian of the Enchanted Forest, while Anna took over as Queen of Arendelle. This separation, whilst to some was a step-up for the sisters, others saw as a step back. This debate rages in the fandom to this day, and many, many fans on Tumblr, Reddit, and other social media prefer Frozen to its sequel.

The fandom did gain some new content, including the addition of multiple ships. There were two that were rather popular. The first was Agduna (Agnarr/Iduna), which came about because of the major focus Frozen II had on them, the sisters’ parents. The second was Elsamaren (Elsa/Honeymaren), which came about because Honeymaren had a minor, but important interaction with Elsa in the film that sent her on the right path to Ahtohallan.

Just as Frozen II’s main theme—change—impacted the sisters, so to it did the fandom. The polarizing effect of the film lead to quite passionate arguments over its content. However, the fandom did not get any smaller or lose any passion. People continued to create, debate, discuss, and post about Frozen and Frozen II. In interviews, the cast and crew said that Frozen II was made to grow up with the audience who were there when the first film was released in theaters. With that in mind, the fandom no longer looked like it did when Frozen first came out.

Things change.

But we can still all agree on one thing: We love Frozen 💕

Stay Tuned For More

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

Yearly Spotlight: 2018

Written by @secretsofthestorymakers

For the Frozen Fandom, 2018 was mostly a year of looking forward to Frozen II. From casting announcements to character leaks, 2018 was the first time fans were actually given more information about the long-awaited sequel!

To name a few examples...

~There were several announcements of new cast members that excited fans as they tried to work out who the new actors would play. ~On Instagram, one of the animators announced that the character designs for Frozen II were finalized. ~In an interview with Variety, Jennifer Lee said that Frozen II would focus on Elsa and Anna again, but would be “bigger (and) more epic,” as they were “going to go far out of Arendelle.” ~There was the appearance of a new image on Instagram that showed Elsa and Anna in new outfits in front of an autumnal forest along with text that translated from Russian to “Frozen Heart II.” This particularly excited fans, but many people also dismissed it as fanart at first. Luckily, it was eventually revealed to be a leak from a Russian 2019 calendar where each month featured a Disney film that was scheduled to be released that month.

In addition to all the Frozen II excitement, Frozen: The Broadway Musical premiered in March! It featured 21 songs, 13 of which were not in the original film. The show ran for 26 previews and 825 regular shows on Broadway before closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Several new books and comics came out throughout this year as well. They expanded the lore of the Frozen universe, particularly with stories about the kingdoms surrounding Arendelle.

Lastly, in November, Ralph Breaks the Internet was released in theaters. It featured Elsa and Anna in modern attire along with all of the Disney Princesses! After the credits of the movie, there was a screen that promised a sneak peek of Frozen II. It played a second of footage from the beginning of Frozen before Ralph took over the screen again, singing Rick Astley’s "Never Gonna Give You Up," effectively Rickrolling the viewers.

Overall 2018 was a big year for the Frozen fandom as fans looked forward to 2019 and the release of Frozen II.

Stay Tuned For More

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

Yearly Spotlight: 2017

Written by @secretsofthestorymakers

This year, we saw the addition of a new story to the franchise!

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure was released, a 21-minute short prefacing the premiere of the film, Coco. The short featured an entire unique plot and 6 original songs. It starred the original voice actors from Frozen, but had different directors and songwriters.

While it is commonplace with Disney animated productions to have a short film beforehand, 21 minutes is very long run time for a short film. Many fans of Coco, especially in Mexico, felt that having such a long short film before the movie was an insult, and that it should be removed. Disney relented and told film distributors to stop showing Olaf’s Frozen Adventure before Coco.

Despite this, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure still received reviews from critics. They were rather mixed, and yet, it was nominated for Best Animated Special Production, among other awards.

The other big thing in 2017 was the official announcement from Disney that Frozen II would be released on November 27, 2019; fans were happy and excited to finally have a definitive release date. By 2017, many fans were eager for Frozen II as the future of the franchise. Even if they didn’t have many clues as to what Frozen II would be about, it was clear to fans that it would be huge!

Stay Tuned For More

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

Yearly Spotlight: 2016

Written by @secretsofthestorymakers

2016 was a BIG YEAR for the Frozen fandom. There were not many big events, but the real-world reach of the franchise itself expanded greatly.

In Disney World, the newly-rethemed Norway in Epcot opened, including the ride Frozen Ever After, the Royal Sommerhus (where guests could meet Elsa and Anna), and a Frozen-themed shop selling everything from plush dolls to drinkware. At Disney’s California Adventure, fans celebrated the opening of Frozen: Live at the Hyperion, a 55-minute show that ran multiple times per day until the park closed for the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Sales of Frozen merch were going strong all over the world, to the point where discount shops stocked Frozen items along with the food they sold. Of course, most of the merch was aimed at children, but the Disney Enesco figurines proved to be popular among older fans! In March, Disney in Concert brought songs from Disney classics - including Frozen - to stages in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, allowing the magic of Frozen to be experienced by whole new audiences. The brand extension Frozen Northern Lights also began in 2016, expanding the lore of our favorite story in the form of 5 books published (4 of them in 2016) and 4 LEGO shorts (though some of this lore was decidedly not canon).

Within the fandom, 2016 was also the beginning of shipping wars; intense arguments over which characters should be together ensued, proving to be somewhat divisive for a previously unified fandom. As the official franchise and the fandom continued to grow, Frozen remained in the hearts of superfans and casual viewers alike.

Stay Tune for More

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

Yearly Spotlight: 2015

Written by @secretsofthestorymakers

After Frozen’s massive success in the previous two years, Disney wanted to do more with it. On March 12, Disney announced that they were going to produce a feature length sequel to Frozen.

In addition to this, the short film Frozen Fever premiered alongside the live-action Cinderella across the US on March 13. This short film excited fans with a new Frozen story, including an original song and new outfits for all the characters. This, of course, led to a whole new wave of merchandise. Frozen Fever and Making Today a Perfect Day became an instant hit with fans, who were excited to have new Frozen content.

Disney also released the collector’s edition of Frozen on DVD and Blu-ray, which included a printed 28-page booklet containing concept art and behind-the-scenes information about the creation of the story. Various Disney parks had temporary Frozen attractions in 2015, such as Frozen Fun at Disney’s California Adventure and Hong Kong Disneyland and Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Fantasy at Tokyo Disneyland.

The Frozen franchise grew very quickly as more and more chapters of the franchise were announced, promising a story that would continue several years into the future.

Stay Tuned For More

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

2015 was the year when I properly got into the fandom (though only for myself at the time). It was then I started hoarding Frozen books 😅

What should not be forgotten from 2015 is the Frozen retelling "A frozen heart" by Elizabeth Rudnick which presented unique perspectives on Anna's and Hans' sides of the story (but sadly nothing from Elsa's or Kristoff's). It's still among the best Frozen novels imo, and very special in the way in which it added depth both to the events in the movie, the actions of the Frozen characters (especially Hans and his crazy plan which he had to change every minute) as well as info about a bunch of background characters. It is definitely worth reading if you already haven't!

Yearly Spotlight: 2014

Written by @secretsofthestorymakers

Discussion around Frozen began to form it's own fandom, which really started taking off in 2014! People began to create online spaces to discuss the film and create fanworks inspired by it. All over the world, fans created hundreds of fanfics, fanarts, edits, and more! By this point, most of the world was aware of Frozen, as it had become a global phenomenon.

The soundtrack of Frozen became the No. 1 album in the United States by early January and remained at the top throughout the year. By March, Frozen had claimed the title of the highest grossing animated movie of all time, which it held until 2019 when it was replaced by Frozen II.

Let's see, what else...

Merch sales exploded, to the point that there was a nationwide shortage in the US. Frozen on Ice opened in September and immediately became Disney’s most popular ice show ever! The first half of Once Upon a Time Season 4 also premiered in September, bringing Elsa, Anna, old and new Frozen characters to Storybrooke. Halloween and Christmas was dominated by Frozen. 2014 was the year that Frozen truly started to blow up worldwide.

But for the fandom, this was only the beginning.

Stay Tuned For More

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

SOURCES BELOW

Yearly Spotlight: 2013 (Part 3 & Last)

Written by @toriofthetrees

In the wake of its massive success, Frozen had cultural impact that created fascinating (and sometimes intense) discussion. A fandom was quickly forming around Frozen, sprouting off of the long-established Disney fandom.

For many, Elsa and her story mattered. The film reverberated significantly with the LGBT community, in communities of mental health and neurodiversity, and generally with anyone who understood how it felt to live a life hiding who you are. Elsa's hugely popular number Let it Go would go on later to receive an Oscar, no doubt because it’s message of self-acceptance resonated with so many.

Let it Go is also remembered to be legendary at consuming the zeitgeist. It can be globally agreed that through all of Frozen's successes, the people who truly deserved an award were the parents who patiently sat through Elsa’s number over and over for love of their little Frozen fans.

Stay Tuned for More

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

Yearly Spotlight: 2013 (Part 2)

The world's first exposure to Frozen from the teaser trailer gave almost no indication of what the plot of the movie was actually about. Hans Christian Andersen's “The Snow Queen" is an episodic journey of a young girl trying to save her friend from the powerful, but lonely Snow Queen. Frozen had whispers of that... but it turned out to be a very different story.

The film, instead, revolved around the of-age heroine, Princess Anna of Arendelle, and her journey alongside an unlikely group of allies to save her kingdom from the wintry magic of her sister, Queen Elsa. Anna does this by lovingly thawing Elsa’s frozen heart.

It was different.

It was a massive hit.

It also brought several groundbreaking things along with it. First, it was only the second movie from Disney to be animated with the help of CGI (the first being Tangled released in 2008). Second, Frozen would go on to become the highest grossing animated film of all time (overcome only by its successor Frozen II). Within a short time, it received an unprecedented amount of awards, including an Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 86th Academy Awards in 2014.

But most of all, through the love of the sisters Elsa & Anna, Frozen shared the revolutionary message that true love can exist anywhere and with anyone.

To be continued

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

Yearly Spotlight: 2013 (Part 1)

This year it all started - the official release of Disney’s Frozen! So began the journey...

What is now a global hit, started off as something of a mystery not only for the audience, but for the creators as well. It's production history is long, taking up the better part of a century. Disney was gunning to adapt Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale “The Snow Queen" into animation. Walt himself dreamed of it! However, quite unfortunately, the technology did not exist at the time and would not come into existence until long after after Walt’s passing. But dreams have a way of coming true... the first teaser trailer for Frozen was released in 2013, and quite interestingly for audiences everywhere, the trailer gave almost no clue as to what the plot of Frozen was actually about...

To be Continued

👆🏻 Click above if you want to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Frozen

A new due date for EVERY YEAR (2013-2023):

April 12, 2024

Elsa & Anna have discovered new memories in Ahtohallan. They can only access it together, as sisters. As the Fifth Spirit. 

Those memories are YOURS, from over a decade of Frozen. If you wish to share your memories of Frozen and celebrate the 10th Anniversary, dive deep into her sound…

Water Has Memory

Email: [email protected] Tumblr: frozen10fanzine.tumblr.com TikTok: @water.has.memory

Frozen II clothing animation tests!

My Sir Jorgenbjorgen is finally here 😭