Frozen Facts That Will Forever Change How You Watch

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08-07-2025

There were only a few movies in the 2010s that garnered as much obsession as the Disney animated film Frozen. Following the success of Tangled, it felt like princess movies were back on a whole new level. You couldn't go into a store without some Olaf memorabilia or "Let It Go" blasting on the radio.
Here are 21 cool Frozen movie facts that will make you go watch it again on Disney+:
Although it may be surprising, Frozen, released in 2013, was the first Disney film directed by a woman. Directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck collaborated on the project, making Lee the first woman to direct a Disney animated film in 52 projects.
Filmmakers invited a real-life reindeer onto the set to gain a better understanding of the animal's behavior, which helped them create the character of Sven. (The reindeer, not that funny-looking donkey)
Opening weekend for Frozen was, well, cold. The film only made $67.4M in its opening weekend. Turns out, word of mouth and reviews did the heavy lifting after those three days, because the film earned $1.28B in total at the global box-office. Yes, that "B" is BILLION.
In the first Frozen, Elsa is confirmed to be 21 years old. This makes her the oldest Disney princess ever!
On the topic of ages, Hans is 23 years old in the first movie. In addition to being the youngest brother in his family, he is also the youngest villain in a non-Pixar Disney film. I emphasize "non-Pixar" film because "Happy Child" Sid (Toy Story) is still our youngest antagonist. I'd say Sid is more of a troubled child, whereas Hans is just a P.O.S. (Piece of Snow).
"Let It Go," although the one of the most popular Disney songs to date, wasn't much of a challenge. It only took composers Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez a day to write a demo. That pen must've been on fire.
The opening song, "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?" was almost left in the cold. According to Anna's voice actor, Kristen Bell, "[the song] was not put back in the film until the witching hour before we released it." We almost had to say, "okay, byeee," to one of the more emotional songs in the film.
Arendelle is based on real Norwegian towns. Bergen, Norway was a major inspiration to the design of the buildings and how the town sat on the water.
Elsa was actually going to be the villain. In the fairy tale the film is loosely based on, "The Snow Queen," the queen is actually the baddie. Her alternate character design was evil, heartless, and dare I say...cold.
Hans Christian Andersen, the author of "The Snow Queen," plays a huge role in Frozen...literally. Hans, Kristoff, and Anna are all based on the name of the fairy tale writer — a pretty cool homage if you ask me.
The cast actually recorded their line reads together, which is an uncommon practice when it comes to recording voice-overs for animated films.
There are plenty of animation marvels in Frozen, but Elsa's hair might take the cake. She has almost half a million hair strands that had to be animated.
Sven's original name was going to be Thor, as in God of Thunder. One can only assume another Disney-owned character undercut the original name since the acquisition of Marvel happened around the same time as Frozen's production.
The voice of Oaken (yoo-hoo, big summer blowout) is also that of Frozen's storyboard artist Chris Williams. Williams is a director, writer, and animator...who has helped write stories we love like Moana, Prep & Landing, The Emperor's New Groove, and Mulan.
The beloved song "Let It Go" is available in 41 different languages. Rick Dempsey, Senior Vice President of Creative for Disney Character Voices International, said, "We held auditions all over the world," in order to find the right international voices for Elsa.
We see evil queens and majestic queens throughout the history of Disney films, but Elsa is technically the first Disney princess ever shown crowned queen. Again, in 50+ Disney movies, whenever you see a first, you know it's magical.
The snow monster was originally not-so-scary at all. In fact, the original version was just a giant-sized Olaf and acknowledged as a "brother" to Olaf. It didn't quite have the same impact that they had wanted, since the character was meant to be intimidating, not silly.
When Olaf is told to give Anna a minute alone with Elsa, he proceeds to count to 60. Well, if you watch the whole scene and time it, the mischievous snowman makes good on his word. It is EXACTLY 60 seconds.
Actor Alan Tudyk was actually in back-to-back Disney movies: Wreck-It-Ralph (2012) and Frozen (2013). He voiced King Candy and then The Duke of Weaseltown...I mean, Weselton. This would lead him to voice acting for numerous Disney characters.
The ice castle changes colors to reflect Elsa's emotions. In a way, it works like a mood ring, fitting the proper emotions of the scene: dark colors for anger and fear, and warmer colors for when she speaks with her sister.
Kristoff was originally going to punch Hans, but the filmmakers found more satisfaction in Anna getting the honors. It really wouldn't have made any sense storyline-wise, so the change was the correct one. Hans is, however, seen rubbing his chin, implying either Kristoff or Sven punched him.
Watch Frozen on Disney+.
What's your favorite Frozen moment? Comment below!