Key Insights
- Development Timeline: Frozen was in development for nearly a decade, with early attempts dating back to 2002.
- Directorial Milestone: Jennifer Lee became the first female co-director of a Disney animated film in 2012.
- Title Change: The film was originally titled The Snow Queen, but was renamed Frozen to better represent its themes.
- Creative Team: Christopher Buck joined the project in 2008, leading to its eventual commissioning in 2011.
1. An adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen‘s 1845 fairy tale The Snow Queen, Frozen was actually in development at Disney for almost a decade (and was briefly considered for a hand-drawn animated feature back in 1937).
The first modern attempt happened in 2002, and when 2003 also proved unsuccessful, more stalled attempts followed over the years. Frozen really didn’t start coming together until Christopher Buck, who directed Tarzan, came aboard in 2008, but the film wasn’t commissioned until 2011 following Tangled‘s box office success.
And in 2012, Jennifer Lee, who initially came on as a screenwriter, was named co-director, making her the first woman to direct an animated film by Walt Disney Animation Studios.
2. The movie was going to be titled The Snow Queen after the original fairy tale, but the filmmakers decided to change it to Frozen “because, to us, it represents the movie. Frozen plays on the level of ice and snow but also the frozen relationship, the frozen heart that has to be thawed,” producer Peter Del Vecho explained to Bleeding Cool, denying it was inspired by Tangled. (The Snow Queen title was still used overseas.)
