Jennifer Lee, who was a director on both Frozen and Frozen 2 will not be returning to direct Frozen 3. At the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Lee sat down with The Wrap to discuss the film. During this discussion, it was announced that she would not be directing the film. Who will be at the helm has not been announced yet, however.
Lee has quite the track record at Disney. She wrote the story for Zootopia and the screenplay for Wreck-It-Ralph. She also is one of the writers for the upcoming Wish, which stars Chris Pine and Ariana DeBose. In terms of the Frozen franchise, she has been a central figure in its success. She has been a writer, director, and producer with co-director Chris Buck. While she isn’t directing this next installement in the franchise, she still remains on board in an advisory position.
As to where Frozen 3 is in the development process, Lee kept things fairly quiet. She did say that whoever is the one directing the new film will be able to fill her shoes well. “I can’t say where we are with Frozen 3,” she said. “All our stories are driven by the artists in the studio. Where we’re going with Frozen did not come from me. It came from an incredible person. That’s a new piece, I’ve told no one. And I’ve been blown away by it and I’m just having a blast with that team.”
While Lee will still be advising on the new film, she did feel that there were other people at the studio who knows the franchise as well as she does and were ready to step up and lead things. “I’m doing what I do with all the other projects,” Lee shared. “It’s really fun on ‘Frozen,’…cause we’ve lived the world for awhile together and a lot of the artists in the studio grew up with that film too, both of them, and have been there the whole way…They kinda own them as much as anyone else.” Of course, she’s not ready to rule out directing again, especially if it’s at the House of Mouse. “I know someday I want to be a filmmaker again. I’m old but I’m not that old! I’ve only done two films and I do believe there’s a time — I’ll know it — but there’s a time when you give everything you can and then you make room for innovation of the next person. I can’t imagine anywhere but Disney.”
At this time, there isn’t an announced release date for Frozen 3. It IS expected that Kristen Anders-Lopez and Bobby Lopez will be returning to bring the music magic that they have contributed to the previous two films to the third as well.
Daps Magic will continue to follow this story and provide updates as they become available. What do you think of Jennifer Lee not directing Frozen 3? Who do you think should be the director? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
