It's been on ice at Disney for years, but it now seems that a thaw is approaching Uncle Walt's version of The Snow Queen, which has just scored a November 2013 release date, under the new moniker **Frozen. That whole clever "thaw" line doesn't really work when paired with that title, but give us a break, eh? It's Christmas.
The story, of course, is Hans Christian Andersen's and involves Kay, whose mind is twisted when his heart and eyes are pierced by shards of an evil troll mirror. He's then willingly abducted by the Snow Queen, who travels the world with the winter weather. Kay's playmate, neighbour and sweetheart Gerda however, still believes in him and sets out on an epic quest to retrieve him from the Snow Queen's palace.
Animator Glen Keane (The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast, Aladdin) was working on the project as early as a decade ago, but abandoned it in favour of Rapunzel, which emerged this year as Tangled. Adjective-based names are apparently all the rage for Disney's current crop of fairytale animations.
At one time it was intended as a hand-drawn affair like The Princess And The Frog, but there's no indication at the moment of whether that's still the case, or indeed, of the current team behind the film.
What we do know is that the date of November 13, 2013 that Frozen has just nabbed, was previously earmarked for Pixar and Bob Peterson's as-yet untitled Dinosaur movie. What's going on with that then?