Frozen II, also known as Frozen 2, is a 2019 American 3D computer-animated musical fantasy

film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The 58th animated film produced by the studio, it is
the sequel to the 2013 film Frozen and features the return of directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee,
producer Peter Del Vecho, songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and
composer Christophe Beck. Lee also returns as screenwriter, penning the screenplay from a story by
her, Buck, Marc E. Smith, Anderson-Lopez and Lopez,[2] while Byron Howard executive-produced the
film.[a][1] Veteran voice cast Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, and Ciarán
Hinds return as their previous characters, and are joined by newcomers Sterling K. Brown, Evan
Rachel Wood, Alfred Molina, Martha Plimpton, Jason Ritter, Rachel Matthews, and Jeremy Sisto.
Set three years after the events of the first film,[9] the story follows Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven
who embark on a journey beyond their kingdom of Arendelle in order to discover the origin of Elsa's
magical powers and save their kingdom after a mysterious voice calls out to Elsa.[10][11][12][13][14]
Frozen II had its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on November 7, 2019, and was
released in the United States by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on November 22, 2019. The film
received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation, visuals, music and vocal
performances, although criticism focused on its convoluted plot. It has grossed $464 million worldwide,
and had the highest all-time worldwide opening for an animated film.

Contents

 1Plot
 2Cast
 3Production
o 3.1Development
o 3.2Animation
o 3.3Music
 4Release
o 4.1Localization
o 4.2Marketing
 5Reception
o 5.1Box office
o 5.2Critical response
 6Notes
 7References
 8External links

Plot
King Agnarr of Arendelle tells a story to his young children, Elsa and Anna, that their grandfather, King
Runeard, established a treaty with the tribe of Northuldra by building a dam in their homeland, the
Enchanted Forest. However, a fight occurs, resulting in Runeard's death. The battle enrages
the elemental spirits of earth, fire, water, and air of the forest. The spirits disappear and a wall of mist
traps everyone in the Enchanted Forest. Runeard's son Prince Agnarr barely escapes due to the help
of an unknown savior.
Three years after her coronation,[b] Elsa celebrates autumn in the kingdom with Anna, Olaf the
snowman, Kristoff the ice harvester, and Kristoff's reindeer Sven. When Elsa hears a mysterious voice
calling out to her, she follows it and unintentionally awakens the elemental spirits, which forces
everyone in the kingdom to evacuate. Grand Pabbie and the Trolls colony arrive at Arendelle and
Pabbie informs that they must set things right by discovering the truth about the kingdom's past.
Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven embark to the Enchanted Forest, following the mysterious voice.
After the mist parts at Elsa's touch, the air spirit, in the form of a tornado, appears and sweeps
everyone in its vortex. Elsa stops it, forming a set of ice sculptures. The sisters discover the sculptures
are images from their father's past and that their mother, Queen Iduna, was a Northuldra who saved
Agnarr. They encounter the Northuldra and a troop of Arendellian soldiers who are still in conflict with
one another before the fire spirit appears. Elsa discovers the spirit to be an agitated
magical salamander, and calms it down. Elsa and Anna arrange a truce between the soldiers and the
Northuldra by explaining that their mother was Northuldran and their father was Arendellian. Elsa later
learns the existence of a fifth spirit who will unite people and the magic of nature.
Elsa continues to head north with Anna and Olaf, leaving Kristoff and Sven behind. They find their
parents' wrecked ship and a map with a route to Ahtohallan, a mythical river told by their mother to
contain all explanations of the past. Elsa decides to continue alone while sending Anna and Olaf to
safety. Elsa encounters and tames Nokk, the water spirit who guards the sea to Ahtohallan. Reaching
Ahtohallan, Elsa discovers that the voice was the call of Iduna; and that her powers were gifted by the
magic of nature because of Iduna's selfless act of saving Agnarr, thus making Elsa the fifth spirit.
Elsa then learns that the dam was built as a ruse to reduce the Northuldra's resources because of
King Runeard's dislike of the tribe's connection with magic. She also learns he was the one who
initiated the conflict by killing the leader of the Northuldra. Elsa sends this information to Anna before
becoming frozen due to venturing into the most dangerous part of Ahtohallan. This in turn causes Olaf
to fade away.
Anna receives Elsa's message and concludes that the dam must be destroyed for peace to be
restored. Anna finds and awakens the gigantic earth spirits and lures them towards the dam. The
giants hurl boulders aimed at Anna which destroy the dam, sending a flood down the fjord to the
kingdom. Elsa thaws out and returns to Arendelle, diverting the flood with her magic and saving the
kingdom.
As the wall of mist disappears, Elsa reunites with Anna and revives Olaf. Kristoff proposes to Anna,
who accepts. Elsa explains that she and Anna are now the bridge between the people and the magical
spirits. Anna becomes the new Queen of Arendelle while Elsa becomes the protector of the Enchanted
Forest, who regularly visits Arendelle as peace is restored.
In a post-credits scene, Olaf visits Elsa's ice palace and tells Marshmallow and the Snowgies[c] about
the events he experienced.

Cast
 Idina Menzel as Elsa, Queen of Arendelle and Anna's elder sister
who possesses magical ice powers[15]
o Mattea Conforti and Eva Bella (archive sound) as Young Elsa[1]
 Kristen Bell as Anna, Princess of Arendelle, and Elsa's younger
sister[15]
o Hadley Gannaway and Libby Stubenrauch (archive sound) as
Young Anna[1]
 Jonathan Groff as Kristoff, an ice harvester and Anna's boyfriend
o Groff also provides the voices of Sven and the reindeer[1]
 Josh Gad as Olaf, a sentient snowman created by Elsa's magic[15]
 Sterling K. Brown as Mattias, the leader of a group of soldiers who
were trapped in the enchanted forest for over thirty years.[15][16][17]
  Evan Rachel Wood as Iduna, the mother of Elsa and Anna, and wife
of King Agnarr.[15][16] Jennifer Lee previously voiced her single line in
the first film.[18]
o Delaney Rose Stein as Young Iduna[1]
o Aurora as The Voice, the call from the memory of the Young
Iduna to lead Elsa to Ahtohallan.[1] The Voice's memorable call is
derived from the Dies irae, but is delivered in a manner inspired
by Scandinavian kulning.[19]
 Alfred Molina as Agnarr, the father of Elsa and Anna and husband of
Iduna. He was previously voiced by Maurice LaMarche in the first
film.[20]
o Jackson Stein as Young Agnarr[1]
 Martha Plimpton as Yelena, leader of the Northuldra tribe.[20]
 Jason Ritter as Ryder, a member of the Northuldra, Honeymaren's
brother who shares Kristoff's love for reindeer.[20][21]
 Rachel Matthews as Honeymaren, a member of the Northuldra,
Ryder's sister who wants to bring peace to the enchanted
forest.[22][20][23]
 Jeremy Sisto as King Runeard, Agnarr's father and the grandfather
of Elsa and Anna.[24][1]
 Ciarán Hinds as Pabbie, the leader of the Rock Trolls.[1]
Additionally, Alan Tudyk provides voices to a Guard, a Northuldra Leader, and an Arendellian
Soldier.[1] Archive sounds are used for Tudyk as the Duke of Weselton and Santino Fontana as Hans,
a Prince from the Southern Isles who tried to take over Arendelle.[15] Paul Briggs also briefly reprises
his role as Marshmallow, a giant snow monster created by Elsa.[1]

Production
Development
When asked about sequels to the first film, producer Peter Del Vecho said in March 2014 that Chris
Buck, Jennifer Lee, and he "work very, very well together, so I believe we will be developing a new
project. But I don't know what that is right now."[25] In late April of that year, Walt Disney Studios
chairman Alan F. Horn stated that a sequel was not being seriously considered because at that time
the studio's priority was the planned Broadway musical, which also required additional songs to be
written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.[26][27]
When asked in May 2014 about a sequel, Disney CEO Bob Iger told host David Faber that Disney
would not "mandate a sequel" or "force storytelling", because to do so would risk creating something
not as good as the first film. Iger also expressed the hope that the Frozen franchise "is something that
is kind of forever for the company" similar to The Lion King.[28]
In June, Lee confirmed that then-chief creative officer John Lasseter had expressly granted her and
Buck the freedom to explore whatever they were "passionate about": "We don't know what it is yet ...
We're actually going to start from scratch. It'll be something completely brand new."[29] Years later, Lee
and Buck revealed that they really had begun development of an entirely new film unrelated
to Frozen.[30] But during the fall of 2014, while working on the short film Frozen Fever, they realized
how much they missed the characters.[30] In the meantime, Del Vecho had been accepting speaking
engagements around the world, where fans peppered him with questions left unanswered by the first
film.[30] In November 2014, Lee, Buck, and Del Vecho agreed they were not yet ready to leave behind
the world of Arendelle, and began to discuss the possibility of a sequel.[30] They soon arrived at the
ending they would spend the next five years trying to "earn": Anna would become queen and Elsa
would be free.[30]
On March 12, 2015, at Disney's annual meeting of shareholders in San Francisco, Iger, Lasseter, and
actor Josh Gad (the voice of Olaf) officially announced a full-length sequel, Frozen 2, was in
development at Disney, with Buck and Lee returning as directors and Del Vecho returning as
producer.[31] Lasseter said that at Disney Animation, "as with Pixar, when we do a sequel, it is because
the filmmakers who created the original have created an idea that is so good that it's worthy of these
characters." He said that in the case of Frozen, the directors had "come up with a great idea for a
sequel and you will be hearing a lot more about it, and we're taking you back to Arendelle."[32] According
to the Los Angeles Times, there was "considerable internal debate" at Disney over whether to proceed
with a Frozen sequel at Disney Animation, but the unprecedented success of the first film apparently
swayed Disney executives towards making a sequel.[33]
In a September 2017 interview with The Arizona Republic, Menzel confirmed that she would return for
her role a couple weeks after completing her concerts tour; she said, "they haven't even sent me a
script".[34]
On September 28, Gad announced his role in the sequel with Buck, Lee, Del Vecho and Lasseter.[35][36]
Jonathan Groff (the voice of Kristoff) said earlier in July 2017, "I don't know anything about it yet other
than I'm about to start recording my section of it."[37] On October 11, he confirmed on the British talk
show Lorraine that he too had started recording for the sequel the previous month.[38][39][40]
In an October 2017 interview with CinemaBlend, Bell said that there will be some new characters too.
She further said that the directors and the producers had "taken their trip to Norway" and took "the
entire culture in" to make this "fun home movie." She added that Lee had drafted personal journals in
character as Elsa and Anna "for months to try and figure out [what they'd say]".[41] From the
Scandinavia research trip, the production team derived the important insight (as paraphrased
by Animation Magazine) that "Elsa is very clearly a mythic hero who takes on the world and the world’s
problems with supernatural powers, while Anna is a fairytale hero who is human and lives in a world
that’s surrounded by magic, but she doesn’t possess magic herself."[42] They also realized that what
makes the original Frozen so powerful is how it combines these two different types of stories.[42]
In March 2018, Lee said in an interview that she was doing the second draft out of six drafts, which
she referred as "six screenings".[43] In July 2018, it was announced that Evan Rachel
Wood and Sterling K. Brown had entered talks to join the cast in undisclosed roles.[44] In August
2018, Allison Schroeder, the screenwriter of Hidden Figures and Disney's Christopher Robin, was
hired to assist Lee with writing the film's screenplay after Lee succeeded Lasseter as Disney
Animation's chief creative officer,[45] though only Lee was credited as screenwriter.[1] The first
presentation of completed scenes from the movie was shown at the Annecy International Animated
Film Festival in June 2019.[46] At the Annecy presentation, head of animation Becky Bresee and head
of effects animation Marlon West said that as of mid-June 2019, the film was "still in production, with
seven weeks of animation to be completed and 10 weeks of special effects."[47]
At the 2019 D23 Expo, the directors said that the sequel will answer the questions that were left open
by the original film; "Why does Elsa have magical powers", "Why was Anna born without powers",
"Where were their parents going when their ship sank", and more will be addressed.[10][48] It was
announced that Brown's role is a soldier in the Arendelle army who worked for Elsa and Anna's
grandfather King Runeard,[22] and Wood announced that her role would be shown in flashback and that
it would help "uncover some mysteries that we didn't know before".[11]
Additionally, while some fans campaigned for Elsa to receive a female love interest in the film,
Anderson-Lopez confirmed that Elsa will have no love interest in the movie.[49] Lee later explained
to Maureen Dowd that they had put the characters through Myers-Briggs tests, and "[i]t really came
out that Elsa is not ready for a relationship."[50]
During a press conference for the film, Lee confirmed that the sequel will not feature elements
from Once Upon a Time's Frozen storyline, since she had "made a point of certain things not to see"
while developing the film.[51]
Animation
The film was produced by a team of approximately 800 people, of which 80 were animators.[52] Tony
Smeed and Becky Bresee together served as the heads of animation on the film.[42] Hyun-Min Lee
served as animation supervisor for Anna, while Wayne Unten again served as animation supervisor
for Elsa.[53]
Before animation began, Unten showed various scenes of superheroes like Frozone to the animators
working on Elsa as examples of what not to emulate.[53] Elsa's movements in the sequel were modeled
after her graceful movements in the first film, and also drew inspiration from modern dance, especially
the work of Martha Graham.[53]
According to co-production designer Lisa Keene, the animators did "a lot of artwork" in order to define
the Nokk's design, while Steve Golberg, the film's visual effects supervisor said that the Nokk's
animation required collaborations between several animation departments, artists, and technicians,
and said that the time to define the Nokk's design took at least 8 months of the film's production.[1] The
animation team aimed to give the Nokk a more stable appearance than the ocean as depicted
in Moana.[1] According to effects supervisor Erin Ramos, the Nokk's liquid-like appearance was
developed by the film's effects team, which he said was "so that [the] Nokk would feel like a strong
and stormy creature".[1] According to Marlon West, the film's head of character animation, the
animators were given "the tools to actually perform with an ultimately invisible rig that resembled a
little comet", as well as old key-framing technology, in order to represent the character of Gale.[1]
To create the wind spirit Gale a new tool called Swoop was invented. This required that four (and
sometimes five) different departments had to cooperate on the animation of the character, with
animators working with real-time feedback.[54]
The water simulation was made to be more realistic than in Moana, but some of the elements in the
movie were so realistic that they felt inconsistent next to the characters, and so they had to be made
more stylistic.[55]
According to Smeed, the Earth Giants "had a long rigging process" in order for the characters to move
without "[seeing] solid rock penetrating solid rock", while Marlon West, the film's head of effects
animation, said that the film's effects team had the objective of generating "rocks that would fall out of
the joints as they moved", though they had to be careful to avoid making the rocks distracting to the
audience.[1]
Upon the reveal of the teaser poster, Gad announced that the snowflake on it has "quite a few
surprises".[56] In July 2019, American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson raised a issue that "Water
crystals have hexagonal “six-fold” symmetry" shown correctly in previous film, but this poster shows
four instead.[57] Director Lee, in a reply, said that it is not really a snowflake.[58] Later, it was revealed in
film that these four edges represent the four elemental spirits, while its center represents the fifth spirit;
Elsa.[59][better source needed]
According to Bell, the animators played pranks on the cast. When she visited Disney Animation to
view early versions of her scenes, the animators added audible flatulence to a scene where Anna and
Elsa were together in bed, and in another scene where Anna was supposed to jump between cliffs,
she did not quite make it.[60]
The last major animation sequence completed before the production team locked picture was "Show
Yourself," the showstopping musical number in which Elsa enters Ahtohallan and finally learns all the
secrets she has been seeking. Del Vecho explained that sequence "required all of the resources at
the studio" to get the film done on time.[30] Lopez explained that the first draft of "Show Yourself" was
very different from the final version: "[E]veryone loved it, but we had to shape it. When we saw the first
round of visuals and then we saw it in the film, everyone agreed changes needed to happen. And it
went back and forth for months—it’s now four minutes and 20 seconds and it has a big ending. It
transformed a lot, and it was hard."[61]
Music
Main article: Frozen II (soundtrack)
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez returned from the first film to write new songs for the
sequel, while Christophe Beck returned to compose the film's score.[3] The soundtrack was officially
released on November 15, a week before the movie's theatrical release.[62]

Release
Frozen II had its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on November 7, 2019,[63] and was
widely released on November 22, 2019 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.[64][65] It was previously
set for November 27, 2019.[66] It was released in Australia and New Zealand on November 28, 2019.[67]
On April 11, 2019, it was announced that a companion docuseries will be launched on
the Disney+ streaming service within its first year entitled Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2.[68]
Localization
Following upon the success of localized versions of the first film, which led to the release of a complete
set album featuring all the official versions of "Let It Go" released at the time,[69] as well as special
dubbings released for the movie Moana, which gathered in the space of two years from its release
a Tahitian,[70] a Māori[71][72] and a Hawaiian version,[73][74] it was announced that a special Northern
Sami dubbing will be released for Frozen 2 with the title Jikŋon 2.[75][76][77]
Marketing
Disney released the first teaser trailer for the film on February 13, 2019.[78] The teaser trailer was
viewed 116.4 million times in its first 24 hours, becoming the second most viewed animated film trailer
in that time period, surpassing the record of Incredibles 2 (113.6 million views).[79] The second trailer
debuted during ABC's Good Morning America on June 11, 2019.[80] The third trailer was also released
on GMA, on September 23.[81][82] A fourth trailer was released by Disney UK on October 14.[83]
Disney partnered with 140 brands worldwide to promote Frozen 2, the highest number ever for any
Disney animated film.[84] In the U.S. market, Disney heavily marketed the film through a variety of
internal and external partners.[85] Disney's marketing partners deployed approximately "250 million
touchpoints" (i.e., branded objects) into the U.S. retail sector in preparation for the film's release.[84] To
support the film's massive marketing campaign, the lead cast members made numerous appearances
in public and on many television shows.[85] During the month of November, the lead cast members'
schedules were so jammed that in Bell's words, "[w]e flew on a helicopter to Disneyland because time
is, it's not there."[86]
Apart from the world premiere, Disney Animation held two separate events for the American news
media: on September 6, 2019, Disney Animation hosted an early preview day at its headquarters in
Burbank,[87] and on November 9, 2019 (the Saturday after the premiere), Disney Animation held a
formal press conference at the W Hotel in Hollywood.[88] Although Lee suffers from a fear of
flying,[50] she joined Buck and Del Vecho on a global press tour to Mexico, Italy, France, the United
Kingdom, Japan, and Korea to promote the film.[85] The Lopezes joined them for the Japan segment.[85]
UK supermarket chain Iceland promoted the film as part of its 2019 Christmas advertisement, as well
as having a new and exclusive short scene made by Walt Disney Animation Studios, showing Olaf
and Elsa's favorite things about Christmas.[89] Menzel, Gad and Groff were also interviewed on
a Children in Need edition of The One Show on November 15.[90]

Reception
Box office
As of November 29, 2019, Frozen II has grossed $236.4 million in the United States and Canada, and
$228.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $464.6 million.[6][5]
In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside A Beautiful Day in the
Neighborhood and 21 Bridges, and was projected to gross anywhere from $90–135 million from 4,440
theaters in its opening weekend.[91] It is playing in 2,500 3D theaters, 400 IMAX theaters, 800 premium
large format screens, and 235 D-Box/4D enhanced theaters.[92] It earned $42.2 million on its first day,
including $8.5 million from Thursday previews, a record for an animated film in November. It went on
to debut to $130.3 million, the highest opening for an animated film in the month and fifth-best overall.[92]
During its opening weekend, the film also grossed $228.2 million from 37 overseas markets for a global
debut total of $358.5 million, the highest ever for an animated title, surpassing the 2019 The Lion
King remake. Notable figures included landing the best opening of all-time for an animated pic in the
United Kingdom ($17.8 million) and France ($13.4 million), the biggest start ever for a Pixar or Disney
Animation title in China ($53 million), Japan ($18.2 million), Germany ($14.9 million) and Spain ($5.8
million), and the third-biggest industry opening of any film in South Korea ($31.5 million).[93]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 76% based on 263 reviews, with an average
rating of 6.78/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Frozen II can't quite recapture the showstopping
feel of its predecessor, but it remains a dazzling adventure into the unknown."[94] On Metacritic, the film
has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "generally favorable
reviews".[95] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F
scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an average 4.5 out of 5 stars, with 71% saying they would
definitely recommend it.[92]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times gave the film a positive review, saying: "As is often true in
animation, Frozen 2 soars highest when it embraces abstraction, as in one number with a pitch-black
void that entertainingly evokes Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin."[96] Writing for MovieWeb, Julian
Roman said that the film "is a darker journey, but illuminated with breathtaking animation and stunning
action scenes. There's enough good humor for balance amid an avalanche of new songs."[97] Nell
Minow of RogerEbert.com, gave the film a 3.5 out of 4 stars and said: "Frozen II has an autumnal
palette, with russet and gold setting the stage for an unexpectedly elegiac tone in the follow-up to one
of Disney's most beloved animated features."[98] Ben Travis of Empire Magazine gave the film a 4 out
of 5 stars, stating: "The best things about the first film—the characters and music—once again sing in
a frequently dazzling if narratively flawed sequel that's better at being sensory than sense-
making."[99] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also gave the film a 4 out of 5 stars, and said: "the delight
and dazzle of this frosty follow-up brings it all home in a climax that should have audiences panting
for a part III."[100] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave a positive review of the film, saying:
"Frozen 2 has everything you would expect—catchy new songs, more time with easy-to-like
characters, striking backdrops, cute little jokes, a voyage of discovery plot and female empowerment
galore—except the unexpected."[101] Simran Hans of The Guardian gave the film a 4 out of 5 stars and
said: "The sisters try to heal the sins of the past in a moving follow-up that touches on climate change
and has at least one great song."[102] Kristen Page-Kirby of The Washington Post gave the film a 2 out
of 4 stars and wrote: "Yes, Frozen II is a letdown when compared with the original. But it's also a
lackluster disappointment on its own—a pale shadow of what it could have been. It's hard to see how
the same team who made something so cool in 2013 could deliver something so—there's no other
word for it—lukewarm."[103]