The sequel to Disney’s smash hit animation Frozen will have a three-year time jump to allow the key characters to mature, the film’s producer has said.
The long-awaited follow-up to the Oscar-winning box office juggernaut will arrive in cinemas later this year and will find Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel) in a different position to the end of the first film.
Producer Peter Del Vecho told the PA news agency: “Part of it is we wanted our characters to mature, we wanted to understand what that maturity meant.
“So it felt like Anna turning 21 and Elsa turning 24, it’s similar to when kids graduate college, it’s that feeling we can remember too, you’re just beginning life.
“And it feels that Anna and Elsa are essentially just beginning life.
“You’re trying to figure out ‘What’s my purpose in the world? What am I supposed to do now?’ and so it just felt like the right age.”
He added: “At our first meeting we were looking at where did these characters leave off when we finished the first film? What was the emotional state of mind?
“Obviously Elsa changed but she is now queen of Arendelle, that is a new responsibility for her.
“Yes people accept her now, that is also new, but Anna and Elsa had been separated most of their life and most of the first movie they were separated so it’s the first time that they are together.
“They are now three years older, what does that mean? Then the question is there any such thing as happily ever after?
“The first movie was happily ever after but how long does that last? Does life have a way of throwing additional obstacles in your way or different challenges, and how do you grow to meet those challenges and how does family actually continue?
“You grow individually but still keep that connection with family. All those things interested us and felt like there was more story to tell.”
However, Del Vecho said “almost everything” about the story has changed over the course of making the film.
He said: “The one thing that was true on the first movie and is true on the second movie is we knew what we wanted to end with.
“So we knew where we were headed, we just don’t know how to get there, how to lay the ground work so it’s emotionally satisfying by the time you get there, what the right mix of characters are, what is the right amount of back story, all of that just takes time and you don’t get it right at first and that is OK, that is part of the exploration.
“We had a core idea of where we wanted to end the film that has remained constant, almost everything else has changed.”
Del Vecho added that the next film will address how Elsa got her magical powers, saying: “It’s sort of a natural question.
“If you think about the first film, all we said was was she born with it or cursed and the parent’s answer, born, and that is all we know about it. So it’s a natural question of why was she born with those powers?
“What is she meant to do with those powers?
“What is Anna’s role in all this?
“Why was she not born with powers and what is her special power?”
However, asked if there will be resolution to this question, he said: “It’s a question we ask, it’s what starts off the journey, I will let you watch the movie to decide if we answer it.”
Frozen 2 will be released in UK cinemas on November 22.