Disney's Frozen

[Dan]

There is also the Target exclusive copy, which includes a bonus DVD that has the "Voices" featuerette, art gallery, and an extra deleted scene.

[Randall]

Really hating all these exclusives. At least those should show on the later "Ultimate" edition.

[Dan]

Box Office Mojo is projecting that Frozen will be the highest grossing animated film of all-time worldwide by the end of the weekend.

It will reportedly have grossed $1.072 billion, surpassing Toy Story 3 which had $1.063 billion.

Furthermore, this also means that Frozen will crack the Top 10 highest grossing films of all-time worldwide, shooting past Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest which had $1.066 billion.

[Dacey]

So, yeah, you can bet there's a packed Ultimate set on the way...

I wish I could share your optimism. But we never got better editions of Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph, so...

[Randall]

True, bbut Froen is a much bigger hit. There's a lot more to be milked here. Plus, we know they witheld the 3D version from North Am, so there is certainly another release coming (wich as Eric said, has been verified). True, it may not have more features, but The Digital Bits also reported a more robust verison will come out later this year.

[EricJ]

I wish I could share your optimism. But we never got better editions of Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph, so...

We did, they were 3D ones, and they had no (factory?) problems releasing them on the same date.

[Ben]

Frozen, for good or bad, is not just a hit - and a megahit at that - it's something of a phenomenon. You can bet an UE set with 3D and a bonus disc is on the way for October on this one.

[EricJ]

Frozen, for good or bad, is not just a hit - and a megahit at that - it's something of a phenomenon.

It's MORE of a "phenomenon" than a "hit", as a hit suggests the movie's popularity is under its own power.
A "phenomenon" suggests that it's trending a little too strongly for its own good, for reasons we'll probably all kick ourselves for five or ten years later.
(Although people still say Lion King is their favorite movie twenty years later, so it's sort of hard to figure.)

[eddievalient]

My big concern is that when Big Hero 6 comes out and inevitably does nowhere near as much business (although it'll probably still do well), the execs will force the animators to make more movies like this whether they want to or not in a misguided attempt to catch lightning in a bottle twice. The sad thing is that Disney actually did come up with a terrific Disney Princess concept recently in Sofia The First, but because that series is stuck on Disney Junior instead of being prominently featured on Disney Channel proper, it's nowhere near as mainstream as it should be.

[Dacey]

It's made a billion dollars, Eric. So, yes, that does make it a hit. Sorry.

I also saw the movie the day it came out, and it had one of the best reactions I've had from an audience ever. Everyone laughing at the jokes, everyone enjoying Olaf's goofy charm, even responding to the film's "plot twist" with sheer delight. When it was over, I heard the level of applause that is usually reserved for Twilight screenings on opening day. So even then, I could tell word-of-mouth on this movie would be terrific, and I don't really see anyone "kicking themselves in the back for that" five years from.

Eddie, however, does have a point. Whatever follows Frozen will look small by comparison, in the way Pocahontas seemed underwhelming after The Lion King despite being a decent hit.

And, actually, I have a lot of adult friends who enjoy Sofia the First, which really is a cute show in its own right, although I really wish it could have the production values of Jake and the Never Land Pirates, which easily has the best animation of any show Disney has out right now. Sofia's also a bit restrained by the fact that it is a preschool show (which is why it's rightfully on Disney Junior), so morals have to take a front seat over "fun" that could take place in a big kid show. But it does have a sort of nostalgic, Disney charm about it that makes it enjoyable.

[eddievalient]

What I really like about Sofia is that the morals are there, but they're done in such a way that it feels natural and not forced, at least most of the time, which is a hard trick to pull off in a show marketed to young children. Also, because it has that nostalgic charm (I've heard it compared to the old Disney Afternoon shows and I think that's an apt comparison), I really do feel that it could reach a wider audience beyond the preschool set if only they would market it properly.

Take My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic as a for-instance. The show has always been intended for young girls, but once Hasbro realized the audience actually watching the show was much bigger than that, they were smart enough to start making it more of an all-ages show without compromising the show's mission statement, ignoring its intended audience or losing what made the series so good in the first place. Disney could learn a thing or two from their success.

[Randall]

It's made a billion dollars, Eric. So, yes, that does make it a hit. Sorry.

I think he meant that it is more than a hit. It's gone well past that and become a phenomenon.

It certainly is a hit. I think the music did a lot for it. My nieces go crazy for the soundtrack, singing all the songs from memory and playing the CD continuously. Plus, the movie itself is of course quite good (I loved it for several reasons), if not quite phenomenal in its own right.

[EricJ]

I think he meant that it is more than a hit. It's gone well past that and become a phenomenon.

Well, I think I was trying to define the distinction, eg. "Do we still think Shrek 1 was a 'hit' by looking at big wads of money out of all historical context, or are we willing to admit we were all just a bit off on some nutty spree at the time by wishfully reading too much of what we wanted to see into it?"
Because that same question sure as heck seems to apply here.

Take My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic as a for-instance. The show has always been intended for young girls, but once Hasbro realized the audience actually watching the show was much bigger than that, they were smart enough to start making it more of an all-ages show without compromising the show's mission statement, ignoring its intended audience or losing what made the series so good in the first place. Disney could learn a thing or two from their success.

That's EXACTLY the distinction I'm trying to make: If you talk to the Bronies (or Brony-girls), liking the show seems to be a subculture display of some free-spirited lifestyle, as if they don't seem to watch any other.
Hasbro couldn't give gluteus rodentii about college kids who don't buy dolls at Toys R Us if the little girls aren't, but among the fans, it's as if it's the "cult" is trying to sell a clannish "gay lite" among themselves to teens searching for their confused identity: Don't be afraid to admit you like toons other people might persecute you for, it's just different, and part of what makes you a very special person!
So, naturally, watching the show, and bringing it up in every possible conversation, starts becoming some psychological need that holds more deeply-rooted identity and subjective meaning for the fans than any actual appraisal of the cartoon vs. other cartoons.

(Insert analysis of just why the hell everyone keeps singing Let It Go here. )

Eddie, however, does have a point. Whatever follows Frozen will look small by comparison, in the way Pocahontas seemed underwhelming after The Lion King despite being a decent hit. .

But that's hard to tell, since Pocahontas WAS underwhelming.

Think of it more in the case of Finding Nemo, which was a "phenomenon" in the sense I'm trying to use the word:
It was the only watchable movie in a summer where the blockbusters were tanking (does that sound familiar, Monsters U and Despicable 2 fans?), and it was the first movie since Toy Story 2 where adult fans openly came out and admitted in public that, hey, these Pixar fellas made some good movies after all. For almost all of summer '03, Nemo became the go-back-to movie to display your love of Pixar, and start "proving" to Hollywood the sort of movies we wanted to see. Even the studios lived in fear of why the Great Orange Fish was sinking blockbusters, and we certainly know how Eisner reacted.
When The Incredibles came out next, the press--still hot on the Eisner vs. Pixar stories--started their search for the mythical Pixar's First Flop, and jumped on the fact that, gasp, the movie didn't make as much as Nemo. And, started searching for reasons: Maybe the craze was over? Maybe the PG rating killed it? Maybe audiences don't like action movies after all, like we all said after Atlantis??

And then, Cars 1. Ohhhhh, lordy. Do I HAVE to go into the Cars 1 story again?--It's too painful a chapter in the "Press vs. Pixar" story.
For those who know the story...I don't want Big Hero 6 to be the next Cars 1, just because we all looked at wads of Frozen money out of all historical context, and thought, "The next movie didn't make as much!...What was wrong with it??"

[Ben]

I think he means "Cars". I don't know of any movie called "Cars 1".

BTW, Eric...watch yourself. That last post started going off the rails pretty early on and, quoting everyone like that and retorting to every remark? That's the starting of madness on these here forums, as witnessed quite a few times in the past...

For the record, I think Big Hero 6 is going to do big, Wreck-It Ralph numbers, which Disney will be happy with. Despite what we've been told so far, I wouldn't be surprised to see it labelled a "Disney-Marvel" movie, like Disney-Pixar ones are now, with both logos atop the title. With that Marvel name up there, they know they're adding a bigger opening and at least $100m to the take, so it makes sense.

[EricJ]

I think he means "Cars". I don't know of any movie called "Cars 1".

No, it's just that whenever you talk about "The press dogpiling on Cars", and "Claiming it 'flopped'", for some reason, people always disgruntedly think you're really referring to Cars 2, and that it "deserved" it. (1 didn't, and didn't.)
In 1's case, Disney was so happy about Nemo, they claimed Cars would do even BIGGER business than Nemo, without any real analysis of why Nemo had made all that danged money in the first place, and possibly more than it should have....Which, on Monday, turned out to be a big public foot in the mouth for Disney.
But by that point, all the headlines had hypnotized fans into thinking that 1 really had "flopped" for being "Pixar's worst movie"--and started retroactively coming up with reasons why it "must have" been bad--even though it'd been one of the major hits that summer.

Fortunately, most of the Frozen fangirls seem to be taking their movie directly off the "Princess musical" string from Tangled, and don't seem to realize Wreck-It Ralph even existed between them. (Let alone Winnie the Pooh.) Which works out well for Ralph, that it doesn't get to be compared to anything.
It doesn't look like any of the Frozen, ahem, fans are going to be going to a Marvel adventure, so maybe it'll slip safely out of Frozen's big overblown shadow just like Ralph did.