Frozen is the highest grossing animated film of all time, so it seemed pretty much inevitable that we would see a sequel in the near future. However, a recent interview suggests it might take a bit longer than we thought.
Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, directors of Frozen, recently spoke to BuzzFeed about the future of the franchise. Buck denied the reports that a sequel was in active development, joking that "it’s been in the press that we are doing it, and we would ask each other, ‘Are we?’"
Lee said it's all about finding the proper story, and that they won't be able to really get into a sequel until they can figure that out. They noted that it was even daunting for them to make the upcoming animated short Frozen Fever, let alone an actual Frozen 2.
The directors seemed confident they would eventually do more Frozen, but they did also like the idea of just leaving it at one movie and quitting while they're ahead. However, Lee and Buck said that a year ago they couldn't imagine doing a Frozen short and now they have, so who knows if they'll come around to Frozen 2 the same way sometime soon.
News about a Frozen sequel has been all over the place. A few months ago Idina Menzel suggested to The Telegraph that the movie was happening. She later clarified that she doesn't actually know anything, and she was just assuming there would be more on the way like the rest of us, the actress told The Today Show.
That seemed like a pretty safe assumption on Menzel's part. This is Disney we're talking about, and when a movie grosses $1.2 billion, there is basically no chance we will never see a sequel. But for now it seems like that won't be happening anytime soon, which is actually great news. If Disney were to rush a sequel into production it would probably be forced and unnecessary, just capitalizing on the success of the first one. If they take their time with it and wait until Lee and Buck come up with a proper story for the film, a followup could actually be pretty solid.
For now, fans can get their fix of Frozen with the upcoming short Frozen Fever, which will debut in theaters in front of Cinderella starting on March 13.