By John ‘Spartan’ Nguyen, Nerd Reactor
Screenshot from the movie ‘Frozen’
Disney’s Frozen did great at the box office and had a very positive reception. Even though it wasn’t number one during its opening weekend, it still pulled in over $120 million from the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend. It was the #1 movie on its second weekend, beating out The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
It wasn’t always like this for Disney’s flagship animated studio (Walt Disney Animation Studios is like a yo-yo). With Pixar and DreamWorks Animation dominating at the box office with their CG-animated films in the last decade, Disney decided to play catch-up. Critical reception wasn’t great and some of the box office earnings were moderate successes. They decided to go back to the drawing board by bringing back 2D-animated fairy tale musicals with The Princess and the Frog. It was considered a disappointment.
With Tangled, Disney decided to bring the fairy tale musicals to the CG-animated realm. The gamble paid off, and Tangled became a huge success (grossing over $590 million worldwide) while also being loved by fans and critics. One year later, they released Wreck-It Ralph, another commercial hit and highly-praised feature.
As Walt Disney Studios climbs up the CG-animation ladder, it’s ironic to see that Pixar and DreamWorks Animation are now in a state of trouble.
Read the full article by John ‘Spartan’ Nguyen from Nerd Reactor.
