Frozen II Breaks Records

Frozen II Breaks Records

Movies can sometimes be surprising. Sometimes a seemingly can’t-miss film will drastically underperform at the box office, and result in a huge net loss for the studio that made it. On other occasions, a low-budget film from an unknown director and production company will surpass all expectations and make huge sums, catapulting everyone involved in making it to superstardom. This, however, is not a story about a movie surprise. In fact, it’s probably one of the most predictable headlines about a film you’ll read all year:- Disney’s ‘Frozen 2’ is a record-breaking success.

There was never any serious doubt that this was going to happen. The original ‘Frozen’ was a runaway hit for the company, introducing the world to Olaf, Elsa, and Anna, and giving us all the song ‘Let It Go.’ Elsa is now one of the most popular Disney princesses of all time, and is also one of the most often-seen costumed performers at Disney’s theme park resorts. Frozen-themed rides have also appeared at Disney’s resorts and made huge sums of money. It’s transcended beyond being a mere film into a multi-billion dollar entertainment property.

Perhaps the only real shock in all of this is that it took Disney so long to come up with a sequel to the original film at all. Six years have passed since the first film, and so the eight and nine-year-olds who fell in love with the original are now in their mid-teens. If Disney had any fears that the extended wait for a second installment had cost them their core audience, they needn't have worried. After all the cash was counted, 'Frozen 2' made more than three hundred and fifty million dollars during its opening weekend. That’s more than any other animated film in history. When you consider that all fifty-seven previous animated Disney films are included in that statistic, it’s a stunning achievement.

The huge success of the film is yet another reward for what feels like a new focus from Disney in recent years. They've dialed back their efforts to break into other forms of entertainment and instead focused on what they've always done so well - making movies. As an example, this time two years ago, the company was raking in millions of dollars through online slots. Their Marvel-themed online slots were particularly popular, with big-name characters like the Incredible Hulk, Captain America, and Iron Man all having their own online slots on website like Dove Casino, each designed to appeal to and entertain fans of the movies. That all came to an end when Disney decided that gambling wasn't consistent with the company's family-friendly image, and suddenly ordered them all to be pulled off the online slots websites that hosted them. That was a lost revenue source, but Disney didn't need the money.

As if to illustrate that point, the take-up rate on their long-awaited over-the-top streaming service has been even better than they could have expected. The “Disney Plus” platform officially went live in the United States of America on November 12^th, with a price point of $6.99. In less than one month, more than ten million people have subscribed to the service. That's almost an extra seventy million dollars each month for Disney, and it's mostly money that they don't have to do anything for. Although there is original content on the channel (and there will be more in the future), people are mostly paying for access to the company's enormous back catalog. Excitingly for Disney and its investors, the service is yet to go live in other major markets. The United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany - countries which are all expected to provide several million subscribers - won't get the chance to sign up until the end of March 2020. When they do, that new monthly income will likely more than double.

By the time the new 'Frozen' film finishes its run in movie theaters, it will likely have surpassed the total amount of box office revenue brought in by its predecessor. That figure stands at $1.28bn. Should the new 'Frozen' bring in more than $1.5bn - which seems likely - there will likely be a demand from within the company to release a third film and keep the story going. Without giving away spoilers about the plot of the new film, there isn't a compelling in-story reason to do so. Perhaps more importantly from Disney's point of view, there's unlikely to be a financial need to do so either. It might be the case that two 'Frozen' films are all that fans will get - which is perhaps information that parents should choose not to share with their children just yet!

As incredible as the film’s numbers are, it may not even be the most successful Disney film of 2019 by the time the year comes to a close. That honor will almost certainly go to ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,’ which comes out in December and is the final part of the ‘new’ trilogy of ‘Star Wars’ films that started with ‘The Force Awakens’ in 2015. As well as closing out the current trilogy, it’s also almost certain to be the last-ever ‘Star Wars’ film that contains footage of (or even makes reference to) the characters who appeared in the very first ‘Star Wars’ film back in 1977. Fans who have been invested in the whole storyline, which has now spanned nine feature films, are sure to want to see how it ends - and that means it’s likely to be a huge hit regardless of whether or not it’s well-reviewed by critics.

Disney may be a slightly different company than they were five years ago. They've moved back to their traditional range of products, and they've pulled away from anything that would likely have been frowned upon by Walt Disney himself. The only thing that hasn't changed is its profitability. Unless they make a disastrous misstep in the next few years, they will almost certainly one day grow to the point where they rival Apple and Microsoft for the title of 'largest company in the world.' More films like 'Frozen II' are likely to be the tools by which they get there.