Based on Hans Christian Anderson’s 1845 fairy tale, The Snow Queen, Disney’s Frozen has been in development for a decade. Entitled, Frozen, the studio has released the first official synopsis for the film.

The press release confirms that Kristen Bell (Heroes) will be voicing the female lead, Anna, alongside Idina Menzel (Glee) as the (originally eponymous) Snow Queen, and an as-yet-unnamed male lead, Kristoff.

“In “Frozen,” a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, so Anna (voice of Bell) must team up with Kristoff, a daring mountain man, on the grandest of journeys to find the Snow Queen (voice of Menzel) and put an end to the icy spell. Encountering Everest-like extremes, mystical creatures and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction.”

Chris Buck (Tarzan, Surf’s Up) will be behind the camera, with the script’s writer still remaining unnamed, but the description of the film as ‘an epic tale of adventure and comedy’ sounds perfect to me.

Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon, Scrubs’ musical episode) and his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Winnie the Pooh) will be writing original songs for the film, and though it’s naturally even more premature to talk about the Oscars for next year’s films than this year’s, we all know that Disney have a tremendous track record when it comes to the Best Original Song category – Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Tarzan, Toy Story 3, the list goes on.

Frozen is due to be released in the US on 27th November next year, and will be released a little later on our shores on 20th December, 2013. We’ve still got a while to wait, and a few Disney films to look forward to before then (Brave, Wreck-It Ralph, and Monsters University), but hopefully we’ll have more news on Frozen for you soon, including who’ll be joining Bell and Menzel as the voice of Kristoff and who’ll be penning the script.

 

BURBANK, Calif. (June 11, 2012) – Walt Disney Animation Studios presents an epic tale of adventure and comedy in “Frozen,” a computer-animated feature film slated for the big screen in November 2013. Directed by Chris Buck (“Tarzan,” “Surf’s Up”) and produced by Peter Del Vecho (“Winnie the Pooh,” “The Princess and the Frog”), “Frozen” features the vocal talents of film/TV/stage star Kristen Bell as Anna, a young dreamer about to take the adventure of a lifetime, and Tony Award ®-winning actress Idina Menzel as Elsa the Snow Queen. The movie will feature original songs by Broadway greats Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

In “Frozen,” a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, so Anna (voice of Bell) must team up with Kristoff, a daring mountain man, on the grandest of journeys to find the Snow Queen (voice of Menzel) and put an end to the icy spell. Encountering Everest-like extremes, mystical creatures and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction.

Bell has starred in a variety of films, including the comedies “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Couples Retreat,” and the upcoming films “Hit & Run,” “Some Girls” and the Farrelly Brothers’ “Movie 43.” On the small screen, Bell is currently starring in the Showtime series “House of Lies” alongside Don Cheadle; she has also starred in “Heroes” and “Veronica Mars.” Broadway credits include “The Crucible” and “Tom Sawyer.”

Menzel, who won a Tony Award® as Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Elphaba in Broadway’s “Wicked” (2004), landed her first role on Broadway in 1995 in the Tony Award-winning musical “Rent.” Film credits include “Enchanted” and the feature film “Rent.” She has appeared in a recurring role on TV’s “Glee” and recently released “Idina Menzel Live: Barefoot at the Symphony,” a live concert with an orchestra led by composer/conductor Marvin Hamlisch. Menzel is currently on a North American concert tour.

Robert Lopez is a three-time Tony Award®-winning writer of the Tony and Grammy® Award-winning musical “The Book of Mormon,” which was co-written with Trey Parker and Matt Stone (“South Park”), and the musical “Avenue Q,” which ran for six years on Broadway and four years in London’s West End.  Lopez teamed with wife Anderson-Lopez, whose Drama Desk-winning show “In Transit” is Broadway-bound, to write original songs for 2011’s “Winnie the Pooh,” a stage version of “Finding Nemo” and a new musical called “Up Here.”