In a landmark deal that is among the highest in animation history, Kristen Bell, Josh Gad and Idina Menzel have signed deals worth over $60 million each to return for “Frozen 3″ and “Frozen 4,” TheWrap has exclusively learned.
Jennifer Lee, the lauded director of the first two films, will also be returning to direct.
The animated franchise is arguably Disney’s most valuable, and sequels have been in the works for some time. “Frozen 2” grossed $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office in 2019, which followed the Oscar-winning original that scored $1.3 billion. The cast members are considered critical to the continuation of the franchise.
The $60 million fee for the two new sequels — which includes upfront fees and back end bonus payments in each case — is a steep increase from the trio’s paydays on “Frozen 2,” which netted each $15 million, a separate individual with knowledge told TheWrap. Bell, Gad and Menzel are all paid the same amount for each “Frozen” film, for which they provide speaking and singing voices for the beloved characters Anna, Elsa and Olaf the snowman.
An executive close to the deal emphasized that it was not a lump sum and would be paid over several years tied to the production of each film and the performance of each at the box office. Talent deals typically pay an upfront sum, in this case close to $20 million per actor, with bonus payments tied to the film’s financial success.
A Disney spokesman declined to comment.
But even in the context of successful franchises, the paydays stand out as rich.
“Frozen 3” is set for release over Thanksgiving 2027, with Lee — co-director and co-writer of the first two films — returning to direct alongside Trent Correy, who co-wrote and co-directed Disney’s well-received 2023 short film “Once Upon a Studio,” a separate individual with knowledge told TheWrap. Producer Peter Del Vecho, who has been with the franchise since the original film, is also returning, as are the songwriting duo of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the individual said.
Lee stepped down from her post as CCO of Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2024, but remains involved in the “Frozen” sequels.
“Frozen 4” doesn’t yet have a release date.
The “Frozen” franchise is among Disney’s most valuable properties, with lucrative merchandise and Disney Parks extensions that add up to billions of dollars in revenue.
Inspired by Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Snow Queen,” 2013’s “Frozen” was a long-in-the-works project that finally came together as a musical, with Broadway-ready songs. It was an instant smash with audiences as “Frozen” fever took hold, exploding at the box office while the song “Let It Go” was everywhere. Suddenly, Anna and Elsa were Disney’s newest crown princesses, and Disney walked away with Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.
2019’s “Frozen 2” was an even bigger hit, soaring to nearly $1.5 billion. Lee returned to co-write and direct with Chris Buck, and the sequel became the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time.
In 2018 an extravagant “Frozen” Broadway musical opened, ultimately closing in 2021, a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. A North American touring production began in 2019 and a West End run would see performances from 2021 to 2024. A truncated musical version is performed nightly on the Disney Wonder and Disney Fantasy cruise ships and Arandelle: A Frozen Dining Adventure is part of the dining offerings on the Disney Wish cruise ship. It also remains a staple of Disney on Ice touring productions, for obvious reasons.
A World of Frozen expansion to Disney Adventure World (formerly Walt Disney Studios), part of the Disneyland Paris complex, will open in the spring of 2026. There are currently “Frozen”-themed attractions at Epcot, Hong Kong Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. The first attraction opened just three years after the original “Frozen,” in 2016.
Sharon Waxman contributed reporting to this story.
