The Snow Queen (2012 film)
The Snow Queen is a 2012 Russian 3D computer-animated fantasy comedy family film written by Vadim Sveshnikov and directed by Vladlen Barbe and :ru:Свешников, Максим|Maxim Sveshnikov. It was produced by Wizart Animation studio in Voronezh and is based on the 1844 story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. Co-produced by Moscow's InlayFilm, and distributed by Timur Bekmambetov's company Bazelevs, the movie was one of the most anticipated projects to come out of Russia in 2012. The movie was edited by Jonathan Abelardo, Vitaliy Konovalov, Anton Maslennikov, Mark Mercado, Ivan Titov and Denis Vakulenko. The movie was produced by Timur Bekmambetov, Alexander Ligaiy, Yuri Moskvin, Sergey Rappoport, and Olga Sinelshchikova. The movie was released on December 31, 2012 in Russia, and internationally on January 3, 2013 during the holidays. In the United States, it was released in video on demand on October 10, 2013, in theaters stateside on October 11, 2013, and DVD on January 28, 2014.
Like the fairy tale, the main character and heroine is Gerda who is an orphan living in the boundless space of a fantastic country. The cold-hearted Snow Queen invokes extreme weather events that usher in global cooling and lead to a new ice age. A young man named Kai is taken prisoner by the Snow Queen who intends on capturing all artists. It's up to Gerda to rescue him. Gerda with sidekick weasel Luta journeys across an icy land, facing difficult obstacles and meeting wonderful new friends like the trolls. Together they set on a quest to set Kai free, defeat the Snow Queen, and save the world from eternal frost.
The movie's appeal was powerful enough to tap into international markets. The 3D cartoon released worldwide as it debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival. The movie has been presented at the film markets in Santa Monica, Berlin, and Cannes as Wizart negotiated contracts for foreign distributors. The cartoon received warm positive reviews from both Russian and foreign critics noting it maintained the spirit of its source material. An Annecy review noted the movie's ambition is reminiscent of the golden age of Russian animation. The film also achieved significant commercial success, earning 233 million rubles domestically while total box office amounted to $13 million. The movie became a milestone in the history of Russian animation as it received accolades from Suzdalfest, Moscow Film Festival, and Zelenograd International Youth Film Festival.
Plot
The Snow Queen covered the world in ice. Only Master Vegard stands in her way, whose mirrors reflect not only appearances but also souls. One day the polar wind takes away Vegard and his wife Una, but they hide their children Gerda and Kai. Years later, the Snow Queen's servile troll Orm locates Kai, who is deemed Vegard's successor, at an orphanage. After a tangle between both siblings and Orm, Kai is abducted by the polar wind to the Snow Queen's palace. Gerda embarks on a journey with Orm and her pet white weasel Luta across the icy lands to rescue her brother.They first enter a garden dome run by an old lady who seems nice, but her true intentions are to drug and enslave Gerda to grow and sell flowers. Orm and Luta catch wind of the scheme and thwart it, but the lady sends out her carnivorous plant, Ivy, but the trio make their escape. Meanwhile, in the ice palace, Kai arrives and the Snow Queen leads him to her throne room. The Queen's mirror, after examining Kai, reveals that Master Vegard has two heirs. Kai tries to hide the truth, but the Snow Queen reads it in his heart and sees Kai's painting of Gerda.
Gerda thanks Orm for saving her life and they begin to warm up to each other. Then the three stumble into Imana's caves, the birthplace of trolls. Orm briefs about how the trolls' age of peace was tainted by the Snow Queen and turned their clans to fight each other, until only the cowardly Orm survived, and the souls of the trolls remained trapped in the lake Gow. While Gerda and Luta look around, Orm is contacted by the Snow Queen with orders to bring Gerda to her. Orm helps Gerda and Luta cross the evil lake Gow and Gerda avoids its curse, much to Orm's amazement.
Outside the cave, the trio encounter a king on a royal hunt. The king tries to hunt Orm and Luta, but he bumps into a tree. The trio are escorted to the king's castle. The king has had a trouble in which his children have literally half-shares in his property after the Snow Queen split the castle in half and Queen Anself was lost. The king takes Gerda as his prisoner, until she shows compassion for her brother. The king and his children have an argument and start a fire but Gerda saves them. As a reward the trio are given a sleigh for their journey.
The trio are captured by pirates and taken to their ship, but Gerda is able to persuade them to let them continue their quest, and the captain's daughter gives them a reindeer for the journey. Meanwhile, in the Snow Queen's ice palace, Kai is frozen by the Snow Queen. Gerda meets the Lady of Lapland in a tent, who recounts the Snow Queen's origin. As a girl, Irma, who had a gift of magic, was ostracized and went to Imana's caves where her ill wish upon the people, granted by the lake Gow, turned her into the Snow Queen. The Lady of Lapland grants the trio a snow boat and sends them to the Snow Queen.
Orm tries to protect Gerda and make her change her mind, but Gerda is determined. Inside the ice palace, Gerda finds her brother frozen then the Snow Queen appears. Orm turns down his reward to be free and beseeches the queen to spare Gerda. Since the queen will not listen to reason, Orm ceases to serve her. The Queen summons ice trolls and giants, but Orm transforms into a polar bear to defeat the monsters and allow Gerda to reach the throne room. But both Orm and Luta are cornered by the polar wind.
Gerda finds the queen's mirror and walks through it, entering the mirror realm. The Snow Queen tries to freeze her heart but, guided by the spirits of her family, she regains hope and retaliates with the magic mirror. The Snow Queen's curse is finally broken, Irma is transformed back and Gerda banishes the evil curse from returning. Irma revives Kai, Orm turns back into a troll and Luta wakes him up and the eternal winter is finally ended. With that Gerda, Kai, Orm, Irma and Luta all set off home. And Gerda and Orm finally accept each other as best friends.
During the end credits, there are scenes showing the lives of people they met throughout their journey after the Snow Queen's defeat and started living happily.
Cast
Additional Voices
- Doug Erholtz - Robbers
- Christopher Smith - Robbers
- Kirk Thornton - Red Head, Robbers
Concept
Production
Development
Work on The Snow Queen lasted 3 years. The studio were honored to work again from the source material of 1957 movie by Lev Atmanov and Andersen's fairy tale. InlayFilm co-produced with Wizart Animation. The cartoon was the directorial debut by :ru:Свешников, Максим|Maxim Sveshnikov, who previously worked on the scripts of such famous cartoons as Dobrinya and The Dragon, :ru:Илья Муромец и Соловей-Разбойник |Ilya and The Robber, Space Dogs 3D. The movie was also co-directed by Vladlen Barbe . The Snow Queen completed production on October 22, 2012. The date coincided with the anniversary date of October 22, 1957, the day The Snow Queen by Lev Atamanov was released. Acclaimed producer Timur Bekmambetov of the Bazelevs Company along with InlayFilm agreed to produce the movie. Bekmambetov's animation credits includes 9, Kikoriki, Team Invincible, and Zambezia. This move was one of the steps that that took the film to compete on a worldwide scale. Alexey Tsitsilin was cinematographer. Acclaimed Russian artists like Nyusha voiced the heroine Gerda, and Ivan Okhlobystin voiced the troll Orm. Troll king Orm fit the voice of Ivan Okhlobystin perfectly who was invited to the voice studio ad hoc without any finalized conclusions beforehand. Supporting ensemble voice cast included :ru:Тюнина, Галина Борисовна|Galina Tyunina as Snow Queen, :ru:Искандер, Рамиля Рифовна|Ramilya Iskander as Kai, Erin Fitzgerald as Luta, Dmitry Nagiyev as Housemaster, Olga Shorokhova as shopkeeper and Lapp woman, :ru:Артемьева, Людмила Викторовна|Lyudmila Artemyeva as Flower Lady, :ru:Стоянов, Юрий Николаевич|Yuri Stoyanov as King, Mikhail Tikhonov as Prince and Master Vegard, :ru:Зубкова, Ольга Валерьевна|Olga Zubkova as Una, :ru:Ардова, Анна Борисовна|Anna Ardova as Atamansha, and Liza Arzamasova as Alfida. A review praised the movie's use of Russian language as default without going into the extreme ends of localization. The English cast was picked by René Veilleux that included Jessica Straus as Gerda, Doug Erholtz as Orm, Cindy Robinson as Snow Queen, Marianne Miller as Kai, and Dee Bradley Baker as Luta. For the Latvian cast, actresses included Laila Kirmuška while the Snow Queen was spoken by Riga Theatre actress Sandra Zvīgule. Latvian actors included Gints Grāvelis and Uldis Anže. The cast for the Korean release included actress Park Bo Young as Gerda and comedian Lee Soo-geun as troll Orm.Adaptation from source material
Sveshnikov explains, "We tried to keep the spirit of the fairy tale, the spirit of family values by Andersen." However, to relate the Soviet classic to modern audience, the team used a combination of modern technology with traditional animation to evoke the "magic atmosphere" of the original to create a new adaptation. From the script perspective, the writers who included the Sveshnikov brothers as well as Vladlen Barbe couldn't completely follow the 1957 movie or Andersen's fairy tale because both had religious undertones and was decidedly targeted for the past era. The writers combined and refined concepts from both source materials while focusing on the children audience, by stating "The Snow Queen will indeed be understood by even the youngest children." Together with additional input in comedic schemes they were able to achieve an educational content material.One pronounced shift from Andersen's story is how Gerda and Kai become sister and brother rather than neighbors. However, the story did keep the concept of the magic mirror intact as well as refining the side character troll of Andersen's tale. In this movie, Gerda becomes a spirited girl who fights for justice in contrast to the moral, upright Gerda found in Andersen's fairy tale. The Snow Queen will be characterized as a person with a universal antagonist appeal that explains to the audience why "her heart is so cold." The director also remarked, the movie will elaborate on rarely explored elements of the 19th century fairy tale that previous film adaptations missed. A classic example of renewing forgotten characters is the troll Orm, who was forgotten by the directors of many previous TV and film versions of the winter tale, and yet Andersen had it. According to Reuters, the erstwhile troll from Andersen's tale depicted as an arch villain and an associate to the Snow Queen with dark undertones was completely converted into a harmless creature. Just like animated films, the troll became a comedic relief character. Kai the brother, is a faceless character from the fairy tale that come to life as a talented artist.
Theme
The protagonist's adventure to reverse the effects of the Ice Age gives the film a science fiction environmental tone without going into the realms of a scientific tragic disaster film. Instead the writers used fairy tale elements like love and empathy evident in the film motto, "Cold can freeze your heart, love can set you free." Gerda's quest to save her brother Kai, evokes the theme of family values, friendship, and selflessness. Her willpower to combat the authoritarian society of the Snow Queen and help save the world from the prejudice against artists echoes the theme of tolerance and the role that books and literature play in a free and informed society. The plot is similar in theme to classics like Fahrenheit 451 and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Dickensian elements are highlighted as orphanage street children organize a movement to topple the snow palace of the Snow Queen that also evokes rags-to-riches, underdog theme. Gerda and Kai living as orphans was a completely new take from Andersen's tale, yet the idea parallels Andersen's own lifetime. Andersen who was the son of a shoemaker was born to a poor family. He was orphaned at an early age. Nevertheless, he had a keen insight in literature that was developed to create critically acclaimed works in such genres as fairy tales. Gerda and Kai's stories are similar to Andersen's life. Despite all odds, they travel to the Snow Queen palace to restore balance to the world and find out their true potential and courage.Animation
Yuri Moskvin noted that Wizart innovated in many animation methods despite the context they were living in. Russian CG industry was still developing at that time. The workforce was built from the grounds up as there was no animation school to recruit new animators. The movie presented challenges because it was the movie with the most effects done in a Russian CG movie during that time period. Wizart's executive-producer, Vladimir Nikolaev noted the movie is not pseudo-3D, but produced simultaneously in real-time multiple camera shots. For every 12 seconds there is a special effect. An in-house R&D team helped the studio's Maya-based tool set. The polar settings were inspired by Denmark and Russia. The icy world of the Snow Queen was drawn around the template of the snowy lands of Lapland in Scandinavia. Animators were present in many departments including backgrounds, textures, cloth movement dynamics. Animation technology included operating, lighting, and sound engineering.The robbers from Andersen's fairy tale turned to pirates living on an icebreaker brig. The animator's novelties included fish frozen in icebergs and the intricate details of the items at the merchant shop.Soundtrack
Mark Willott, an Emmy winning composer from UK joined with Wizart to compose the soundtrack for the film. The theme song “We Will Never be Apart” is sung in English in the closing credits of the film with vocals by Phil Gwynne. The official soundtrack was heard in trailers 1 and 3. A Russian music video for the film was made and performed by acclaimed Russian singer Nyusha that was titled "This New Year." Latvian band :ru:Brainstorm |Brainstorm performed the main track called "Shine Clear" that became the theme song in the animated movie The Snow Queen. The verses were written by Riga poet Sergey Timofeev.Their song got translated into English titled Flashlight, which premiered internationally.Release
Theatrical
Domestic
The first trailer was released on June 27, 2011, the second trailer on February 3, 2012, the third trailer on February 27, 2012, and the fourth and official trailer on October 25, 2012. The Russian promotional trailer was released on December 7, 2012. The official poster was presented in October 2012. The official U.S. trailer was released on Deadline Hollywood and YouTube.The Snow Queen was first presented for international buyers at the AFM in November 2011. Olga Sinelshchikova, Business Development Director, explained, "At the AFM, we received very positive feedback from buyers from over 20 territories, including USA, Canada, Germany, Italy, South Korea and China, among others. Due to this fact, we decided to produce a version for international distribution, so this past January we successfully completed the English dubbing with Los Angeles-based production company Verité Films. The dubbing was recorded at Salami Studios with established, veteran animation actors – Cindy Robinson, Doug Erholtz, Kirk Thornton, and Wendee Lee – who have more than 200 animated projects in their portfolio. The Snow Queen is now more than ever an international project. We are convinced that this kind of story as well as the stereoscopic 3D technologies have high commercial potential and will attract an extensive audience not only in Russia but worldwide. So we expect to close first deals for this project at the EFM." Its next presentation was again at the AFM. The AFM screening, which took place on November 1, at 9 am at the AMC Theater on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, was the first time that buyers got a chance to see the complete film.
On November 27, 2012 at the 89th Russian International Film Market, The Snow Queen was presented. On December 24, 2011 in Voronezh, Russia, Ivan Okhlobystin and other actors presented a special premiere of The Snow Queen in 3D at the cinema, Spartak. In December, The Committee of Culture and the Trade Union and the Committee of the State Duma organized its first 3D picture show for children at the Duma assembly in Russia. The movie had a wide release in Russia on December 31, 2012.
Film festivals
The Snow Queen returned to the EFM for a 2013 presentation at the Berlin International Film Festival. There the movie received appraisals from Brazil, South Korea, Israel, Indonesia, and the Middle East for distribution. Rights to the movie was gone to CCS Media for South Korea, MT Entertainment for Indonesia, PlayArte for Brazil, Film House for Israel, Shooting Stars for the Middle East, Big Sales for Baltic states and Aurora Distribution for Ukraine.On April 15, 2013, The Snow Queen on Facebook has confirmed that it will be presented at the Marché du Film in Cannes from 15–26 May 2013. The movie found appeal to distributors at the 67th Cannes International Film Festival in France. On April 25, 2013, Cartoon Brew has announced that it will be presented at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June 2013. On May 22, 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, it was confirmed that Vertical Entertainment will provide the U.S. distribution for The Snow Queen. It competed at the IX International Animated Films Festival in Varna, Bulgaria.
The Snow Queen was one of the animated features selected to be screened at the Tromsø Children's Film Festival in May 2013 hosted by Norway. Wizart Animation presented the film in Denmark, the homeland of Andersen, at the Buster Copenhagen International Film Festival for Children & Youth. The forum started on September 5, 2015. Originally, there was only 1 screening, but the organizers had to add 4 more sessions as the Danes showed profound interest. It was presented at the Asia Pacific Film Festival in November 2013. On September 18, 2013, it was presented at the Gijón International Film Festival in Spain.
Worldwide release
A special pre-release was arranged in Riga, Latvia on December 27, 2012. In Korea, it was released on February 7, 2013. In Lithuania, it was released on February 22, 2013. On the same day, distributor company PlayArte released the movie in Brazil in over 200 screens. Actress Larissa Manoela voiced Gerda. In Israel, it was released on March 7, 2013. In Indonesia, it was released on March 13, 2013. In United Arab Emirates, it was released on March 28, 2013 under Warner Bros. In France, it was released on the fall of 2013 under Universal Studios. In Poland, it was released on December 26, 2013. The movie released in U.S. theaters stateside on October 11, 2013.After its 2012 premier, The Snow Queen continued to open to new territories. The film premiered theatrically or on home entertainment in 17 countries till the end of 2015, featuring countries like Canada, South Africa, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The Snow Queen became the first Russian animated film to get a wide release in China. It released to 3,400 screens on July 31, 2015. On Oct 30, 2015, The Snow Queen released in South Africa. For the first time in the history of Russian animation, a project was voiced in Afrikaans. Composer band Brainstorm's Flashlight theme song for the movie was localized in Afrikaans. Local star cast for South Africa included popular South African actress Heidi Mollentze.
Home media
The Snow Queen, was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Real 3D Blu-ray in Russia by musical company Misteriya Zvuka on January 31, 2013. It was released on VOD on Thursday, October 10, 2013. The film was released on DVD in the United States on January 28, 2014. With distributor Universal, more than 13,000 DVD and Blu Rays have been sold sold. As of January 2014, more than 100,000 DVDs have been sold.Reception
Critical response
The Snow Queen received 85% of positive reviews from critics, adults, and their children in Russia. In the United States, it received mixed reviews. JM Willis reviewed that he liked the characters in The Snow Queen, but could not understand why the Snow Queen would fulfill her purpose without a definite reason as well as other plot contrivances. He gave the movie a "B−." Another review from The Village Voice said, "A Russian animated adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, Snow Queen proves both visually cruddy and narratively muddled."Bleeding Cool summarized the film's strengths and weaknesses with "Seeing as the budget was only around $7 million, this trailer for an animated version of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen looks surprisingly well-detailed and nicely lit. The character design is fair too, if rather derivative, but the animation is, shall we say, variable. And the voice work? Shocking."
Mike McGranaghan for The Aisle Seat commented that "there's nothing inherently wrong with Snow Queen. It's a pleasant enough movie with some nice visuals... That said, the problem faced by the movie is that, while it's not bad, it's also simply not good enough." In particular the review took issue with the plot structure stating "the story is kind of disjointed... These moments feel more like a set of ideas than an actual plot, however. Never are they substantially integrated into the main idea of the movie", concluding finally that "Compared to , Snow Queen is an also-ran."
A RogerEbert review stated: "The message gets muddled with plot strands going every which way, though the real culprit is some awkward animation." Review at Movie Mom stated the movie was lackluster by stating, "The vocal performances are uninspired and uninvolving. And the one effect that words, a 360 degree swoop-around, is relentlessly overused. The script is muddled and dull." Common Sense Media with 2/5 stars also found the movie uninspiring and incomparable to animated import films from Japan. The review also stated, "As for the story's plotline, it's a bit muddled and confusing, but at least Gerda the protagonist is sweet -- if not very confident. Gerda's desire to save her brother Kay is the movie's biggest redeeming factor."
Jennie Kermode for Eye for Film complimented the film's appropriateness for children, remarking that the film's "esoteric scenarios may not make much sense to adults but they're conveyed with a sincerity that kids will find appealing. They're all very child centered and well paced. Threats seem credible without being too scary for sensitive kids and the humour is well balanced. Though the villain isn't particularly charismatic, her backstory goes some way towards justifying this and making her interesting in other ways."
The English dubbing was also criticized and might have influenced the humour and reception of the characters in the film, with The Hollywood Reporter remarking that: "Dubbed with American voices sporting a variety of jarring accents, the film features the sort of broad, vulgar humor—it’s not long before the first fart joke—presumably intended to amuse undiscriminating small fry. Unfortunately, none of the characters,--whether human, fantastical, or anthropomorphically animal—prove remotely engaging.". Oscar award expert for the The Hollywood Reporter shortlisted the movie as a possible contender for the best Oscars animated movie.
International response
at UAE reviewed, "The Snow Queen, in particular, seems quite stilted and lacking in menace throughout, although much of the attraction of the story and characters is provided through the voice acting. It's unlikely to stay long in your memory, but Snow Queen might sustain younger viewers." A Portuguese review from Reuters, noted the movie starkly contrasts from past Snow Queen adaptations by stating: "Unlike the animations of recent times The Icy Kingdom is not a comedy, but an adventure in a fable tone." A Lithuanian review from Alfa.lt remarked at the exhibition of the movie's female characters.A Polish review kultura.poznan.pl was surprised by how Wizart handled the transformation of Andersen's decidedly more mature fairy tale to a kid-friendly version by stating: "It turns out that Andersen - without profanities - can be shown in 3D." The review compared the movie to a video game:
"It's a modern, three-dimensional, glamorous film. Using the latest advances in technique, and from Andersen's fairy tales, drawing only those passages that allow the whole resource to be made interesting. It is like a good computer game: dynamic three-dimensional images, interesting graphical solutions, saturated colors, expressive characters."The audience reaction for the Polish review was positive as the children's themselves are jubilant after the ending: " And after the screening, they clap loudly. It's quite a challenge to create an animation today that children will react to that way."
However, Nikita Krasnoglazov of Вести сегодня with a rating of 4/5 stars did not think the movie was a game but instead a poetic "synthesis of genres." The three year work put into this exhibition drew from many facets of movie making including the "beautiful Russian language" of the voice cast, the poetic verses of the song, and the special effects of the animation. The review also gave the final verdict of the changes bought by the Three Heroes writer Sveshnikov: "Therefore, in the tape, many details of the story about Kai and Gerda are changed, pushed to the background, or even replaced with new characters and storylines. However, the result was fascinating, spectacular and, it should be noted, very positive spectacle."
Filmpro.ru gave the movie 7/10 stars through a general consensus of 70 ratings. Кино-Театр.ру commented, "In general, everything in this film is very fashionable. The picture is also very modern, rich and mostly made with great taste. And if you look at the Russian era in context, it turns out that this is one of the best full-length cartoons of our post-Soviet period." Lora Mjolsness of KinoKultura Russian cinema reviews, stated: "The new film also supports the original tale’s message about the strength of a child, albeit in a different way. In The Snow Queen Gerda is certainly able to stand up for herself, yet her personality is different. Her power is based on physical force, on her wit, and on her determination. Her heart is not as innocent and she appears older and more street wise on her quest." Review at Ovideo.Ru found that aside from a small flaw in the film where troll Orm was given more screen time, the movie's overall appeal was good: "I must say that they proved The Snow Queen is hardly inferior to Western animation in terms of performance, the rest is details." A special Annecy review gave the movie 4/5 stars who remarked the movie is reminiscent of the golden age of Russian animation:
"Visually, despite a texture of characters it is not really successful and 3D not always completed. The set is still very beautiful for a Russian production. Ambition is present both in the setting and in the realization. However, the ambition of a country with few animation productions is to be welcomed despite a time of fame in the 50s and 60s.
Box office
On January 6, 2013, The Snow Queen flopped at the Russian box office which made only $5.16 million in the first week. But on January 31, 2013, it was considered a box office success as it had drawn 1.3 million viewers. It grossed $7,580,435 at the Russian box office. On February 1, 2013, it grossed $8.8 million. Preliminary results of the New Year holiday box office collections in Russia which was the highest from any of the previous years, showed The Snow Queen at 7th place. Only :ru:Три богатыря на дальних берегах|The Three Bogatyrs on Distant Shores was the other animation to top the list at 2nd place before. In total, the movie collected 233 million rubles in Russia. On February 7, 2013, the movie released in South Korea. According to the results of the first weekend, the cartoon took the fifth place in the local rating of collections, earning $540 thousand on 311 screens and even managed to surpass the results of the Pixar cartoon Monster Unversity. On February 15, 2013 in Korea, it grossed $1.5 million at the box office. As of November 2013, the total box office ratio was 78.87% for Russia and the rest of the countries – 21.13%. Today, The Snow Queen made $14 million total at the box office. The profit was twice the budget they had spent.Accolades
Comparison between Wizart's The Snow Queen and Disney's Frozen
There was increased attention from the media both domestically and internationally for a potential clash in the box office between Walt Disney Animation Studios feature Frozen and The Snow Queen due to the fact that both are remakes of Andersen's classic 19th century fairy tale The Snow Queen and the movies were ready for debut around the 2012/2013. Wizart's The Snow Queen was released on December 31, 2012. Disney's Frozen was released on November 19, 2013. The Snow Queen released to theaters in 2012, one year earlier than Frozen. When Disney revealed their film will be titled Frozen, the prospects for Wizart's international release were lowered. However, according to representatives of Bazelevs, the movie was received with open negotiations by international distributors.After The Snow Queen's debut, many reviewers also drew comparisons between it and Frozen, with one commentator for IndieWire remarking "The cold war with Russia is back - but this time it's over our Frozen flick versus their Frozen flick." Bleeding Cool stated, "Before Disney's Frozen, A Russian Snow Queen." A 2014 Guardian review stated "Both films, rather obviously, are rather in the shadow cast by Frozen but this is cheerful enough, with a wacky troll, a sinister ice queen, and feisty girl-hero named Gerda. There’s a frenetic, eye-popping quality to the visuals that forestalls the kind of emotional engagement Disney can offer, but there is some entertainment to be had here." Chesapeake Family Life reviews criticized The Snow Queen doesn't need deserve interest in context to Frozen because the former is "incomprehensible and unarresting". However, on the other spectrum, in 2020, film distributor Signature Entertainment Limited of UK in their distribution of revealed Wizart's animation style was a possible inspiration for Disney's Frozen as it stated, "Discover the dazzling story that inspired Frozen!"
However reviews by Annecy and others have emphasized the film is genuine and has no connection with the creative process of Frozen. In an interview, Yuri Moskvin, the producer at Wizart finalized any confusions regarding the clash of the Snow Queen films during their debut at 2012/2013. Moskvin stated when they knew about the film, they weren't intimidated by the competition, because coincidentally, both studios revived their projects in 2012. They are completely different films, with different budgets and different experiences of creation and also remarked Wizart can't be compared with Disney, because the latter has a century of experience. However, Wizart's movie moved forward and is happy that the studio is developing and raising the bar with new feature films.
Even if there was a cinematic Cold War as Indiewire asserts, people on the other aisle praised The Snow Queen for its faithful plot with quality animation despite a small budget. The budget between the two films varied by $143 million. The Snow Queen was produced on 1/25th the cost of Frozen. Impacting Culture noted with only 5% of a typical Disney budget, Wizart made a noteworthy revival of a classic fairy tale. In comparison, Disney/Pixar budgets depend on $150 million budgets to enliven their projects, while Wizart only needed $7 million budgets. Reviewers were quick to note the movie's authenticity to its source material. The National stated the movie was the first before Frozen, and is a more faithful adaptation to Andersen's fairy tale. Cartoon Brew commented that the film was more authentic to Hans Christian Andersen's original story than Disney's version, as well as referring to the original 1957 Soviet version.
Legacy
Sequels
The movie has been able to be seen in over 75 countries in its final global distribution. After Wizart's success for The Snow Queen at the AFM, they confirmed to produce a theatrical sequel titled ' The sequel tells about how Kai and Gerda help Orm the troll save his people from the Snow King. The voice cast for Snow Queen 2 included Sean Bean as General Arrog, Sharlto Copley, as troll Orm, Bella Thorne as Gerda, and Isabelle Fuhrman as Alfida. It grossed $15.5 million at the box office.On January 29, 2013, a few weeks after the release, Voronezh State University partnered with Wizart to open an animation department at the university. Voronezh students interested in an animation can enroll in courses taught by veteran animators of Wizart. Wizart's school of animation was Russia's first privately sponsored state university course in computer graphics and animation.
A third installment, titled ', was released on December 29, 2016. The movie met with critical and commercial success. The movie set a record for Russian animated ventures abroad and has since inspired a fourth installment, titled released on January 1, 2019 in Russia. The film was noteworthy for its acceptance in film festivals as well as international collaboration. Today, The Snow Queen animated tetralogy series has managed to be released to over 150 countries and has been translated into 30 languages.