Do You Want to Build a Franchise? In the wake of Frozen’s box-office-conquering success, Walt Disney Animation Studios seems keen to let the story of Elsa and Anna snowball for all it’s worth.

Before the long-awaited Frozen 2 arrives in time for Christmas 2019, a new 21-minute semi-sequel, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, will screen in British cinemas next January.

OLAF’S FROZEN ADVENTURE

The “featurette”, as it was described by Disney boss John Lasseter during a presentation of the studio’s forthcoming animated films at the D23 Expo, will feature four new musical numbers, and the return of the entire Frozen voice cast, including Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell as royal sisters Elsa and Anna, and Josh Gad as Olaf the snowman himself. The original Frozen, which drilled songs like Let It Go into the planet’s collective psyche on its release in 2013, became the most successful production in Disney animated history, and the highest-grossing animated film ever made.

This return trip to the alpine kingdom of Arendelle will screen in front of the new Pixar animation Coco, a surreal supernatural adventure inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead festival – which will no doubt benefit from the promise of a visit to more recognisable cinematic terrain beforehand.