The Sequel Is Happening! Frozen By The Numbers

Yesterday Disney announced that Frozen 2 was green lit, news that didn’t really surprise anyone. After all, Frozen is basically the definition of behemoth at this stage. Here are just some crazy facts and figures that forecast how the sequel will probably surpass the original movie in terms of takings and fandom:

– It made over $1 billion at the global box office, which is why this multi-language version of the Oscar-nominated Let it Go went viral.

– There’s also an ?Africanized Tribal Cover?.

– The soundtrack has sold over a million copies and topped album charts around the world – it spent 13 weeks unmoved at number one on the Billboard charts. Even The Roots loved it.

– In April of last year, Frozen was declared the highest grossing animated film ever. And the highest grossing musical film of all time. Overall, it ranks ninth out of the highest grossing movies.

– Elsa and Anna costumes have been massive sellers the last 18 months, with one estimate saying that Disney has sold over three million dresses…

– Last Christmas, the Elsa doll was the number one toy for girls, knocking Barbie off her long-running throne. Apparently one in five parents bought merchandise from the movie.

– It is Oscars material. It won last year’s Academy Award for Best Animated Film and Best Song. Other plaques on Disney’s mantelpiece include a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and a Critics? Choice.

– Idina Menzel was almost not the soaring voice of Queen Elsa. The Broadway star originally auditioned for 2010’s Tangled, Disney’s fun version of Rapunzel, but weirdly didn’t get the part. Her audition was recorded and led to her being cast as Elsa.

– Considering Frozen is the first Disney movie to have a princess crowned on screen, it makes sense that it has feminist credentials behind-the-scenes. Director Jennifer Lee is the first woman to have directed a full-length Disney feature, and the first sole scriptwriter for an animated Disney movie since 1991, when Linda Woolverton was on scribing duty for Beauty and the Beast.

– One frame in the movie took 132 hours of work to get right. One frame! Over all 600 people spent two-and-a-half years working on the movie. That’s three million hours.

Follow Jeanne Sutton on Twitter @jeannedesutun