Unsurprisingly, the now Golden Globe-winning animated movie Frozen is headed to Broadway. Walt Disney CEO and chairman Bob Iger has confirmed that the massive hit will soon join the endless procession of movies transferred from screen to stage. The musical film about two sibling princesses—which is refreshingly focused on the sisters’ relationship, instead of romantic entanglements with random princes or ice merchants—surpassed its unfortunate ad campaign to become one of the biggest successes of the holiday movie season, grossing more than $669 million globally.
That total has made Frozen the second-most successful Disney animated effort after The Lion King, and No. 4 on the list of all top-grossing animated films, behind Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Up (not accounting for inflation). And the movie also seems tailor-made for a Broadway musical, seeing as its soundtrack quickly reached the top of the Billboard charts with songs like “Let It Go,” and “Do You Want To Build A Snowman?” that were quickly immortalized by the nation’s children, who tortured their parents by singing them unceasingly throughout the entire holiday break.
Iger announced the upcoming Broadway effort in an interview with Fortune magazine, proclaiming it to be a “very, very important event” for “the vitality of the brand”—but not one he plans to rush through. "We're not demanding speed," Iger told Fortune. "We're demanding excellence." No word on whether the Frozen stage show will be a Broadway musical… on ice!, but that certainly seems like a logical progression. We can also only hope Disney will put aside most of its Broadway budget toward a decent costume for the magical snowman Olaf, because that will probably make or break the show.