Jennifer Lee Bids Adieu to Frozen, as Disney Looks for New Director

The Frozen saga has been reported to continue but with a different director at the helm. 

The beloved Disney movies tell the story of sisters Anna and Elsa, with the latter having the power to create snow out of thin air! The films have been massive hits for Disney, with each breaking the $1 billion mark at the box office. 

In fact, Frozen 2 is the most successful animated movie ever made, with a whopping $1.45 billion in earnings. Disney confirmed that Frozen 3 was in the works earlier this year but kept the plot under wraps.

However, franchise fans will be surprised to learn that Jennifer Lee, who directed the first two films, will not return for the third installment. Lee revealed this news at the Annecy Animation Festival, where she said that she would step back from directing and take on a more advisory or mentoring role for the creative team. Here are her words about Frozen 3:

I can’t say where we are [with “Frozen 3]. All our stories are driven by the artists in the studio. Where we’re going with ‘Frozen’ did not come from me. It came from an incredible person. That’s a new piece, I’ve told no one. And I’ve been blown away by it, and I’m just having a blast with that team.

Lee’s departure from Frozen 3 might seem worrying, but it doesn’t mean the director is abandoning the franchise altogether. 

She explained that the idea for the third film came from someone else, so she trusts them to take over the helm, just like Disney trusted her and her team for the previous two films.

Lee also had a lot of help from other talented people who co-directed, co-wrote, and composed songs for the first two Frozen films, such as Buck, Shane Morris, Mark Smith, Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez. 

She said she will still be involved as a consultant for Frozen 3, so she might contribute to the script or offer feedback to her former colleagues.

A change in the creative team might not be bad after all. 

The second film did not wow the critics as much as the first one, and it missed out on the coveted Best Animated Feature Oscar that the original Frozen won. Meanwhile, Toy Story 4 took home the prize for Disney that year. 

So, a new vision might just be what the icy franchise needs to melt the audience’s hearts once again.

Will a new creative team give Frozen the spark it needs to reignite the box office, or will it leave fans cold? Guess we will have to wait for that one!

About Frozen Series

Frozen is a Disney media franchise which began with the 2013 animated feature film, Frozen. The sequel to the 2013 film, Frozen 2 came in 2019. A third film in the series is in development in Disney. 

The first film follows the story of Princess Anna, who teams up with a snowman, reindeer and iceman to find her long lost sister, Elsa. The second film is set three years after the first film, and follows the same group of characters as they travel to an enchanted forest to find the roots of Elsa’s magic powers. 

The cast includes Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, and Jonathan Groff.