The Snow Queen has been stuck in development hell over at Disney for almost a decade.
However, towards the end of last year we heard a vague announcement the movie had once again become a priority, and seemed to be on track for a holiday 2013 release.
Now we know for certain that the film – currently titled Frozen, will be ready for Christmas 2013, even if it has changed media.
Originally intended to be hand-animated, the plan is now to fully animate the feature in 3D CGI a la Tangled (the new title seems in the same vein as well).
The decision has some fans up in arms, wishing to see Disney return to their hand-animated roots, but I personally, really enjoyed Tangled, and take that film as further proof that Disney knows what it is doing with CGI fairytale adaptations.
Of course, I am also painfully cognizant that The Princess and the Frog clearly highlights why not every every hand-drawn Disney film is a gem.
We don’t have an official synopsis yet, but we do know that Frozen is based on the classic 1845 Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, The Snow Queen. The story is about a mystical being who follows winter as it moves about the earth, making her palace in the permafrost of Spitsbergen (Northern Norway).
Technically, The Snow Queen comprises seven separate, yet interwoven tales. While we still don’t know which elements are going to be used, the gist this film will likely adopt (just from knowing Disney) is the primary narrative about a young boy who is pricked by a shard from an evil mirror, and becomes trapped in the Snow Queen’s palace. His best friend, a girl from his village, ventures to the palace to rescue him.
Frozen is slated to hit theaters November 27, 2013.
