Frozen 2 is still more than two years away, at best, but you’d think it was a month or so around the corner, considering how much Frozen buzz is still out there. But no, it’s not about the sequel; all that crazy fandom is still about the original. Which is, to be fair, the best animated Disney movie in… let’s say twenty years or so. Certainly ten. There’s a reason kids everywhere love it: It’s really good and really catchy, and has a great message. The harder question: Will kids still care in 2018?
Frozen 2 Remains A Big Gamble
No consumer base is more dedicated than children. At the same time, no demographic is more fickle. If you have kids, you know what I mean: The level of obsession with Frozen among kids of a certain age can be positively obscene. I sure hope you bought it on Blu-Ray and haven’t rented it each time, because man, kids can watch it over and over (I say this as someone who has watched Frozen twice in one day before, with no kids and just a bunch of late twenty-somethings). But once kids drop something, it’s done. It’s over. Because kids grow out of stuff and reject what they used to like as childish, and it happens quickly.
Is Disney gambling that it can break this pattern? That, by the time Frozen 2 comes out in 2018 or so, the nine-year-olds who saw it when they were four won’t think it’s “for kids”? And the fourteen-year-olds—will they be lost entirely? Or is Disney hoping that the nostalgia and affection will be strong that the magic can happen again?
Nah, it’s none of that: Frozen 2’s appeal will be much more elemental. Disney knows the movie is something of a gamble for a studio that almost never does theatrical sequels to its animated canon. Because yea, millions of kids will, in fact, age out of it. Millions more will also age into the demographic, and now-infants will be ready for a taste of Disney at its best. Thus a new generation of fans will be born. And half of those kids who are “too old for it” will probably see Frozen anyway—just like tons of adults will. Disney is timeless. The only people who don’t like Disney are surly teenagers, and they grow out of it sooner or later. Damn those surly teenagers!
Frozen 2 is years away and it isn’t a surefire smash, but hey—neither was Frozen, which blew up in a way even Disney could never have predicted. And it’s not like we’re going to totally forget about the series before Frozen 2. There are going to be more shorts, and the musical, and theme parks, and endless merchandise. Frozen isn’t going away, and by the time Elsa is ready to meet someone—we’ll still be excited.
