Having earned nearly $1 billion on “Frozen” in theaters worldwide, Disney has taken the hit cartoon and let it go on to iTunes and other streaming services.
(Thank you, thank you).
The Oscar-nominated, dual princess fairytale featuring the voices of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel finished in eighth place at the domestic box office this past weekend, taking in $4.4 million to bump up its gross in the U.S. to $384 million and $980 million worldwide. But with the window given to theaters for exclusive distribution slowly narrowing in deference to the strength of streaming services, Disney released “Frozen” online nearly a month before its Blu-ray/DVD street date, making an HD download available for $19.99 (a price that includes the short film,”Get a Horse,” and bonus features).
Also read: Oscars: Idina Menzel Performing ‘Let it Go’ From ‘Frozen’
In New York, that’s less than the cost of two adult movie tickets, though still comparable to the price of a DVD.
“Frozen” has already made a huge impact online, as its soundtrack — which was the top album on the Billboard 200 chart for several weeks — also topped the iTunes sales chart. The breakout song “Let It Go” has been streamed over 125 million times on YouTube alone.
The release was part of a bigger streaming effort launched by the Mouse House on Tuesday, as their iTunes-powered Disney Movies Anywhere service allows viewers to watch over 400 titles from the Disney, Marvel and Pixar collections.