First off, sorry for the lengthy time between these blogs. Life sometimes gets in the way of these things. Anyways, today is a fitting day to write the second part of my Frozen blog. Yesterday the Annie's were held. For those unaware, the Annie's are essentially the Academy Awards of animated film. The awards have been given out for around 40 years but this year marked a very special achievement and one that helps bring focus to just why Frozen is such a great film. Snow White was released 75 years ago. In the intervening years there have been 52 official Disney Animated features. While the films have varied greatly in style, story, and pretty much every other aspect imaginable, one element that unified them all was the gender of their creators. Frozen is the first Disney film ever to be directed by a woman. And that director, Jennifer Lee, yesterday became only the second woman in history to be nominated for ann Annie for best director, and the first to win. In total, she in one of only six total female animation directors in history and only the third to direct a major animated blockbuster.

While many people look at professions like politics, business, or finance as areas women are most underrepresented at the top of their industry, the fact is that female film directors of any sort are staggeringly rare. It was only a couple years ago that the first women won an Academy Award for best director. She was one of only a handful ever nominated despite the fact that the Oscars have been handed out for over 80 years. I think it's important for parents of young girls to understand that Disney princess movies are the work of men. These are men telling your daughters what they should aspire to. That's why last year's Brave (directed and written by the most successful female animation director Brenda Chapman) was something of a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately the message it delivered was a bit too heavy. It was a girl power film that in many ways sacrificed a solid story to deliver a message. It was an animated film about an empowered Disney princess but it was one of the weakest films in Pixar's history and nowhere near as good as the standard bearing princess films that Disney made its name upon.

That's why Frozen is so important. First off, Frozen is arguably the best Disney film of the century. It has an incredible operatic soundtrack that gives Alan Menken's 90's classics a run for their money. The animation itself is truly gorgeous. Making a perpetual winter a thing of beauty is a challenge for any filmmaker yet there are very few animated films I'd say were as stunning to witness as Frozen. The story was also great, managing to not only deliver a message of female empowerment but also deliver a heartfelt, emotional, and funny tale. Olaf the snowman was a hilarious sidekick that to me ranks up there with Pumbaa and Timon as some of Disney's best. Meanwhile the story of sisterly love was well written and acted, and it's a story far too rarely told in Hollywood. Truly the whole film is magical, with impeccable pacing, catchy songs, wonderful animation, and a story that stands with the best stories Disney has ever told. The question is, of course, can Disney continue the upward trajectory that began with The Princess and the Frog?

The answer lies at the shoes of John Lassetter, head of Disney Animation. In my previous blog I mentioned that John currently holds complete creative control over Disney Animation. While his title may not be the same, he basically serves the same function Walt did before his death. He leads a team of top creatives who collectively ensure the quality of every film to come from the studio. This collective, reminiscent of Disney's Nine Old Men, or the team Lassetter lead at Pixar, is made up of the best of the best of Disney Animation. The key to keeping quality high lies in Lassetter's strategy of not releasing a film that isn't working. Walt Disney began work on Snow White in 1934, a half decade before it's release. Animation didn't start, though, for several years. During that time a core team of creatives worked through various story iterations, creating storyboards and tweaking both the tone and the focus of the story before ever beginning animation. Snow White initially was to focus on the dwarves not the princess, and was designed as a slapstick comedy similar to Disney's highly successful Mickey Mouse and Daffy Duck cartoons. The final film with its more serious tone and focus on the relationship between Snow and her stepmother was a far cry from the initial pitch. This structure of workshopping a project in preproduction for years before beginning animation was the key to Disney's success as well as Pixar's. John has never shied away from canceling a film that wasn't working, even when there was a risk of losing the talent behind it. This strategy, though, means that films are more expensive to make, and that films that executives believed were going to be released in a certain year might get pushed back, or not released at all. In the world of film distribution scheduling is everything, and films are scheduled years in advance. There will be two Pixar movies released in 2015. What films? Most like The Good Dinosaur and Inside Out. Why mostly likely?

Well, next year Pixar was to release a film called The Good Dinosaur. It was about a young boy and his dinosaur friend. Clips of the film were shown at Disney's bi-annual expo D23, and concept art was released online. The film was directed by Bob Peterson, a Pixar veteran who co-wrote and directed Up. The film was the first original concept by a Pixar regular since Up was released several years ago. But John felt the story wasn't good enough. So he removed Peterson and began the process of reworking the film. This left a gaping hole in Disney's lineup next year. It will now be the first year since Disney bought Pixar that no Pixar film will be released. Now there is a gaping hole in Disney's schedule for next year but there is no film to fill it. Revenue projections have to be rewritten, and profits and growth will both drastically decrease. But this dedication to quality above all else is what makes John such a great leader, if not the best businessman.

Next year Disney will put two animated films into theaters. The first will be DisneyToon Studios followup to Planes entitled Planes: Fire and Rescue. The less said about that the better. The second film, to be released in the usual November timeframe, is called Big Hero Six and is an original story loosely based on a set of Marvel characters. (And by loosely based I mean in the sense that Frozen is loosely based on The Snow Queen). This will be Disney's second attempt to appeal to young boys after the highly successful Wreck It Ralph. Will it be any good? Footage screened at D23 was well received and production has moved at a steady pace, a rarity at Disney where most films are reworked at least a couple times before seeing release.

That film will be followed in 2016 with two films that have good potential. The first is an adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk entitled Giants. I know, it's been done, recently even in live action form. But if Disney's recent efforts have proven anything it's that the studio can say something is an "adaptation" of something else when really all they are taking from the source story is a setting or maybe a couple of characters. The film is the work of Nathan Greno, who co-directed Tangled, wrote Meet the Robinsons and was the lead story artist for Bolt. Considering his films have improved with each attempt, I have high hopes for his latest effort. The second film is entitled Zootopia and is the work of Bolt and Tangled director Bryon Howard. The film is about a world in which man never existed and animals have evolved and created their version of a modern society. Both films have a lot of potential and of course a lot of risk. Zootopia is unique in that its animal society is one that exists without human presence, a rarity in animated films about animals.

The final film officially confirmed to be in development at Disney is entitled Moana and is an original story featuring Polynesian folklore. The film is being written and directed by legendary animators John Musker and Ron Clements, the team that revitalized Disney in the late 80's and early 90's with The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. They also are the creators of Hercules and Princess and the Frog. Moana will be their first CG film, although rumors abound that several new techniques will be used to make the CG look closer to traditional animation, although sadly the technology used to create the incredible Paperman short will not be ready for use in a feature film for several more years. Moana will be released in 2018, alongside a second film that has yet to be decided.

It's an ambitious slate, and one that has seen numerous changes in just the past couple of years. Plans for a feature length Mickey Mouse cartoon were scrapped, as were plans for a traditionally animated take on King of the Elves. Giants is just the latest in a string of attempts to create a Jack film, and Frozen replaced a traditionally animated version that was in development several years ago. Point is, the key behind Disney's third Golden Age will remain the studio's dedication to canceling films that aren't working. The question, though, remains, will such a strategy remain viable as upstart studios begin producing animated films of lower quality in less time? That question is what I'll be examining in Part Three of my Frozen blog, which knowing my output won't be written for another month. Can quality and profit exist side by side in an industry with a lowering cost of entry and where less honest filmmakers will release bad films with smart marketing that will make as much or more money than the best efforts of Disney? We'll look at the numbers next time around. In the meantime, enjoy the blog and if you haven't seen Frozen, be sure to check it out before the Oscars hit next month.