If you've been on the internet or left your house (although if you have a little kid then staying at home will do too) since 2013, you know what Frozen is. Before it was merely the past participle of freeze however ever since then, it only refers to the blockbuster disney animation. It's a tale of two sisters, a guy, said guy's reindeer and the trademark asshole. Sprinkle in some talking rocks, a snowman brought to life and you have the animated movie of the year. Proof of this are the kids who can recite each line better than the actors themselves or their parents who could classify this movie as a torture device due to the insane amount of times they have to watch it with said kids.
It's hard to overlook the countless merchandise. Everything from dolls, lunchboxes and even tissues, if there is a way they to make it and if someone's willing to buy it then, Disney is sure to have made it. If there is some way that you still can't recall the movie, perhaps the 1.3 billion dollars it grossed at the box office should help jerk your memory. Since then we have seen two Frozen shorts, coming with their own merchandise of course, that fans, young and old, welcomed with open arms.
Seeing all this, there was certainly no way that we wouldn't see a sequel, something Disney confirmed in 2016. Frozen 2 released on the 22nd this month and it beat the record of the biggest opening weekend for an animated movie, taking 350 million dollars. The movie itself was quite a different take for disney, with no trademark asshole this time, and a pretty decent way for you to spend your time. However, most sequels this way either set out to sail across the wins or flop right on their face. The expectations are high and so are tensions for year long fans. This makes sequels, spin offs and remakes of popular franchises tricky business for all those that attempt it.
The lion king live action movie released this year and while not failing to further pad Disney's pockets, it made 1.6 billion dollars worldwide, it did raise grievances among fans and critics. Many felt that the hyper realism that disney used this time around, it was supposed to be the main pull seeing that the movie was a literal copy of the original, was dull and left the whole movie completely free of any emotion or empathy. Disney isn't the only studio that has experimented with sequels, remakes and spin offs. In fact a majority of the most hyped movies all either belong to some pre existing universe that comes with it's own fan base. You can see this in Marvel, Star wars, both of which are also owned by Disney and the DC universe.
Another film to hit the box office this year with a, let's call it a bang, was Joker by DC. The film, even prior to it's release, has been marred with controversy. Unlike with most other remakes/spin-offs/sequels, the controversy didn't surround on the movie's faithfulness to the original or question it's need to exist, it was far more sinister. Rumours regarding it's affect on mental health, 'glorifying violence' and encouraging criminal deviousness were aplenty. However, a lot of it was unfounded in it's belief. A film, while having the power to influence much, should be seen as a film. Whether that be a disney princess movie, or one about a homicidal comic book villain.