It's the perfect day for a new Frozen Treat.
-Tagline
Frozen Fever is a 2006 American computer-animated musical fantasy short film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios. It is a sequel to the 2013 feature film Frozen, and tells the story of Elsa's birthday party given by Anna with the help of Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf. John Lasseter served as the directors with Brad Lewis co-directing the short with Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, and Josh Gad reprising their roles from the first film feturing Chris Pine and John Ratzenberger.
Pre-production on Frozen Fever began in June 2003 and took two years to complete and Production began in June 2005 and took nine months to complete. The film debuted in theaters alongside Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios' Cars on June 9, 2006. It received positive reviews from critics, along with praise for its new song "Making Today a Perfect Day" by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez.
Plot[]
Anna plans to give Elsa a surprise birthday party with the help of Kristoff, Sven, Jack Frost, and Olaf; but while Elsa is led on a party treasure hunt by a string that winds through the kingdom, Anna has caught a cold, and unknowingly produces a group of small living snowmen (known as "Snowgies") and small living lamps (known as "Luxo Jr's") with each sneeze, who begin to dismantle the birthday party's decorations while Kristoff tries to stop them. While Anna takes Elsa on the hunt, Kristoff, Jack, Sven, and Olaf try to control the snowmen and the lamps and fix the decorations in time for Elsa and Anna's return. Meanwhile, Anna's condition rapidly worsens and she becomes delirious with fever. After Anna nearly falls off a clock tower, Elsa convinces her to rest. They walk back to the castle where Anna apologizes to Elsa for "ruining" another birthday, but Elsa reassures her that she didn't ruin anything. As Elsa goes to lead Anna to bed, the doors to the castle open to reveal Kristoff, Olaf, Sven, and a mountain of tiny snowmen, who surprise Elsa. Anna sneezes again and finally sees more tiny snowmen that she produced. Despite Anna's protests, Anna concludes the party by blowing into an alphorn. However, she sneezes into the horn, forming a giant snowball that inadvertently hits Hans overseas (and into a cart of manure, as he was cleaning out the stables as punishment for his previous actions). Anna rests in bed under Elsa's care. Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven escort the small snowmen and the small Luxo's to Elsa's ice palace, where they stay with her snow-giant doorkeeper Marshmallow.
Cast[]
- Kristen Bell as Princess Anna
- Idina Menzel as Queen Elsa
- Jonathan Groff as Kristoff
- Josh Gad as Olaf
- Chris Williams as Oaken
- Santino Fontana as Hans
- Paul Briggs as Marshmallow
- Stephen Anderson as Kai
- Edie McClurg as Gerda
- Chris Pine as Jack Frost
- John Ratzenberger as Sven
Production[]
On May 30, 2003, during the ABC airing of The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic, Pixar Animation Studios' chief creative officer John Lasseter announced that a Frozen short film with a new song would be released in the future.[3] On the same day, Variety announced that the short would be released in late 2005 under the title Frozen Fever, with Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee returning as co-directors, but replace by John Lasseter, Brad Lewis returning as co-director and a new song by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. Olaf the snowman would also make an appearance in the short. On December 21, 2004, it was announced that Denise Ream would produce the short and that Frozen Fever would debut in theaters alongside Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios' Cars on June 9, 2006. In October 2005, the co-directors told the Associated Press "There is something magic about these characters and this cast and this music. Hopefully, the audiences will enjoy the short we're doing, but we felt it again. It was really fun." Around the same time, Dave Metzger, who worked on the orchestration for Frozen, disclosed he was already at work on Frozen Fever.
The short features the song "Making Today a Perfect Day", by Anderson-Lopez and Lopez.[11] At the premiere of Cinderella and Frozen Fever at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, on March 1, 2015, Josh Gad told USA Today, "I want to apologize to parents everywhere for the fact that children are going to be singing a whole new Frozen song[.]"[12]
The creators started brainstorming possibilities for the short film in June 2003. After early discussions about Olaf and Jack Frost, head story artist Marc Smith pitched the idea of what might happen if Anna had a cold, which became the basis for the short's plot.[13] The directors began working on the short in June 2003 and by August 2004 were back in the recording studio with the cast to lay down vocal tracks. The production of Frozen Fever took nine months.[14] All of the animators from Finding Nemo wanted to come back to animate at least one shot on Frozen Fever, resulting in a large number of animator credits for a short film. They struggled to squeeze the animation phase of the short's production into a tight time slot in fall 2005 after animation wrapped on Chicken Little and before the studio's animators had to start working on subsequent features.
Release[]
The short film premiered on May 26, 2006, at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina and it was released in the United States on June 9, 2006.
The film was originally scheduled for release on November 4, 2005, but on December 21, 2004, it was gaven a final release date of June 9, 2006 and would be debut in theaters in front of Cars.
Marketing[]
McDonald's promoted the film with a set of 8 kids' happy meal toys featuring the characters from the film.
The film was backed by a large marketing campaign, with toys, books, games, clothes, and many other items becoming available throughout 2006
The short film's first teaser trailer was released on May 25, 2005, and was later shown in theaters with other films such as Madagascar, Summer Belongs Movie, M.I.S.S.I.O.N., Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Vailant, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Corpse Bride.
Another teaser trailer was released on November 4, 2005, and was later released with Chicken Little, Zathura: A Space Adventure, Yours, Mine, & Ours, Marcus Troy and the Kingdom of the Crown, Miitropolis, Curious George, and The Shaggy Dog.
The first theatrical trailer was was released on March 31, 2006 and was shown with Ice Age: The Meltdown and The Wild.
The second theatrical trailer was released in May 19, 2006 and was later shown before Over the Hedge.
TV spots began to air between May and June 2006.
Video game[]
A video game based on the short film was released on June 6, 2006 on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PC, and Macintosh.
Home media[]
Walt Disney Home Entertainment first released Frozen Fever on DVD with Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection in the Style of Pixar on August 29, 2006 and with Cars on November 7, 2006. This release includes a special THX edition with DTS sound.
It was also released on Blu-ray + DVD combo pack on November 6, 2007.
It was released again on Blu-ray 3D on October 29, 2013, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, on September 10, 2019, DVD, and Blu-ray on June 15, 2021 to honor the 15th anniversary of Cars. (Digital HD version was released on October 21, 2016)
As of December 2016, the short film is available to watch on Netflix.
Music[]
- Main article: Frozen Fever (2006 Short film)/Soundtrack
The short film's original score was composed by Christophe Beck but was replaced by Randy Newman due to fake orchestra. The soundtrack album was released on June 6, 2006 by Walt Disney Records.
Rating[]
Frozen Fever received a G rating (for some action and mild rude humor) by the MPAA. This is the tenth Disney animated short movie to be rated as such in the US after Prep and Landing: Stocking Stuffer: Operation: Secret Santa and Tangled Ever After.