We Now Know How "Frozen" Was Originally Supposed to End—and We're So Glad They Changed It
Claire Nowak
Four years after the smash hit debuted in theaters, we now find out how Disney's "Frozen" was initially supposed to end. How happy are you the moviemakers changed their minds?
via imdb.comThe world just can't let go of Frozen.
The Disney smash hit first took to the newsstands—and our hearts—when it hit theaters and became the most successful animated film ever made. Then we found out the film was almost a massive failure before it was even finished. Now, in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, producer Peter Del Vecho reveals the original ending that would have turned it into an entirely different movie.
For starters, Anna and Elsa weren't even sisters, much less royalty. "So Anna was not a princess. Elsa was a self-proclaimed Snow Queen, but she was a villain and pure evil—much more like the Hans Christian Andersen tale," Del Vecho spilled. "We started out with an evil female villain and an innocent female heroine, and the ending involved a big epic battle with snow monsters that Elsa had created as her army."
During the battle, Kristoff channels his inner knight in shining armor to help Anna ward off the snow monsters, but Prince Hans has other plans. He sets off a massive avalanche to stop the evil army, not caring that he just put all of Arendelle in danger too.
To save the kingdom, Anna convinces Elsa to use her snow-controlling powers for good, and everyone realizes Hans is the real cold-hearted villain, metaphorically speaking.
But this ending just wasn't satisfying for the production team. They wanted something more original and emotional with more relatable characters. That's when they started reworking the key themes behind the movie. Elsa and Anna became sisters. Instead of a vengeful witch, Elsa evolved into a princess gifted with powers that terrify her.
"That led to making Elsa a much more dimensional sympathetic character," Del Vecho said, "and instead of the traditional good vs. evil theme we had one that we felt was more relatable: Love vs. fear, and the premise of the movie became that love is stronger than fear."
And that, of course, led to the movie we know and love today, complete with a picturesque happy ending. For more feel-good films, check out our collection of the best movie happy endings ever.
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