Since opening in November, Disney's "Frozen" has made over $700 million, won a Golden Globe Award for best animated film, and now will become a Broadway play, Parade reported.
The announcement was especially gratifying for Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, who said he cried while watching the film and called it (the movie, not the crying) his "proudest moment as the CEO of the Walt Disney Company."
Eight other Disney movies have been made into major plays, but those were all cartoons (besides "Toy Story," which probably isn't considered major because it ran on a Disney cruise ship in 2008). "Frozen" represents the first computer animated film to make it to Broadway.
Perhaps because of that fact, Iger is preaching caution and careful planning when it comes to "Frozen"
"We're not demanding speed," he told Fortune. "We're demanding excellence."
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak, reiterated Iger's point.
"When you start talking about spinoff platforms," Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak, told the Wall Street Journal, "there has to be total confidence that this film, these characters, this theme will play well beyond the movie theater."
Fortunately for all those involved, Disney has a proven track record with plays, producing hits in five of its seven productions, according to the Wall Street Journal (assuming it didn't consider "Toy Story" in the seven). Its biggest, of course, was (and is) "The Lion King," which has made over $1 billion and is still on Broadway.
