Yesterday, we saw the first images from Disney’s 53rd animated feature film, Frozen.  The story centers on a young dreamer named Anna (Kristen Bell) who teams up with Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), an extreme mountain man, to find her sister Elsa, the Queen of Arrendelle (Idina Menzel) who has accidentally trapped their kingdom in eternal winter.  No one will know any of that from this teaser, which centers on Kristoff’s reindeer/steed Sven and the comic-relief snowman, Olaf (Josh Gad).  I understand that the movie isn’t out until November, and there’s plenty of time to get to the plot stuff, but it’s still not the best idea to look like you’re aping Ice Age (silent supporting characters in a cold environment comically go after an inanimate object).

Hit the jump to check out the teaser trailer.  Frozen opens in 3D on November 27th. [Update: We've added the film's poster to the article as well.]

Disney has released the first images from their upcoming animated film, Frozen.  The film features Kristen Bell as the voice of a young dreamer named Anna who teams up with Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), an extreme mountain man, to find her sister Elsa, the Queen of Arrendelle (Idina Menzel) who has accidentally trapped their kingdom in eternal winter.  Anna and Kristoff are joined on their journey by Kristoff’s trusty reindeer Sven, and a talking snowman/comic-relief, Olaf (Josh Gad).  The film will also have a bit of a love triangle between Anna, Kristoff, and the dashing Prince Hans (Santino Fontana), but the story will focus more on the relationship between Anna and Elsa.  “That’s such an important part of this,” co-director Jennifer Lee tells USA Today.  “Two sisters torn apart by a big family secret.”  Bell adds that Anna is “not a good fighter, she doesn’t have good posture, she’s not very elegant, and she’s constantly putting her foot in her mouth.  But, Bell adds, “she’s a good person and she’s utterly determined.”  That sounds a bit like Disney’s Rapunzel, but I’m sure Anna will have her own personality, and I’m particularly interested to see how she relates to Elsa, since we haven’t really seen that dynamic with a Disney princess before.

Hit the jump to check out the first images from the movie, which features music from The Book of Mormon‘s Robert Lopez.  Frozen opens in 3D on November 27th.

With director Shawn Levy’s The Internship opening June 7th, I recently landed an extended video interview with Josh Gad and Jessica Szohr.  If you’re not familiar with The Internship, the film reteams Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as two out-of-work salesmen who attempt to reinvent themselves by competing against young up-and-comers for an internship at Google.  The film also stars Max Minghella and Rose Byrne.  For more on The Internship, here’s my set visit and on set interviews with Levy, and Wilson and Vaughn.

During the interview, Gad and Szohr talked about meeting on set, filming with the cast, what was it like filming at Google. what aspects of their technology impressed them the most, how they filmed when they didn’t know if the movie would be PG-13 or R, what it was like working with Vaughn and Wilson, and much more.  In addition, Gad talked about his upcoming voice work in Me and My Shadow and Frozen.  Hit the jump to watch.

New posters for Disney Animation Studios’ Frozen have been released, and they show off our first look at the protagonist, Anna (Kristen Bell) and her wicked sister Elsa (Idina Menzel).  You can see that the filmmakers have kept the evolution of the Disney female character with the large pupils, thin irises, high cheekbones, and thin chin.  We tend to ignore these similarities as long as the plot is good, and hopefully Disney will have another animated hit on their hands with their upcoming feature.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The film also features the voice of Jonathan Groff and music by Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (In Transit).  Frozen opens in 3D on November 27th. [Update: Disney has informed us that these are fan-made posters created from some unapproved character art, so we've been asked to take them down.]

As we approach the end of 2012, it can be a little daunting to look ahead at all the great films coming up in 2013. So today we’ll break down the 2013 releases for Disney, including Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney/Pixar and Marvel Studios. As usual, the Mouse House has a line-up full of live-action movies like Oz the Great and Powerful and The Lone Ranger, superhero features Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World and animated films such as Monsters University and Frozen. There’s even a 3D re-release of the classic The Little Mermaid next year. Hit the jump to see the release date schedule for Disney’s 2013 films.

Disney has announced that singer/actor Jonathan Groff has joined the cast of the upcoming animated feature, Frozen.  The film features Kristen Bell as the voice of a young dreamer named Anna who teams up with Kristoff (Groff), an extreme mountain man, to find the Snow Queen (Idina Menzel) and put an end to a spell that has trapped their kingdom in eternal winter.  The film harkens back to some of Disney’s earlier, more music-centered films as it will feature original songs from Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (In Transit).  It’s always a smart idea to tap professional singers for musicals, and Groff has an impressive resume for such a young actor; he has starred in Broadway productions since 2005, and has had a recurring role on Glee.  He’ll next be seen in the Sundance film C.O.G.

Hit the jump for the press release.  Frozen is due out in 3D on November 27, 2013.

Disney’s upcoming animated feature Frozen just landed an additional director.  The Mouse House announced today that Jennifer Lee will be joining Chris Buck (Tarzan) as co-director on the princess movie.  Kristen Bell voices a young dreamer named Anna who teams up with “a daring mountain man” to find the Snow Queen (Idina Menzel) and put an end to a spell that has trapped their kingdom in eternal winter.  The film harkens back to some of Disney’s earlier, more music-centered films as it will feature original songs from Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (In Transit).

Lee has already contributed to the screenplay for Frozen, so it appears she’s been involved with the project for a while.  She most recently was credited as one of the screenwriters for Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, so hopefully she can bring some of the humor and heart of that film over to Frozen.  Hit the jump to read the press release.  The film opens in 3D on November 27, 2013.

The romantic car chase comedy (yes, it really is!) Hit & Run, from writer/director/star Dax Shepard, tells the story of Charlie Bronson (Shepard), a nice guy with a questionable past who decides to leave the witness protection program to ensure that his fiancée, Annie Bean (played by real-life fiancée Kristen Bell), can accept a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in Los Angeles. But, their road trip grows increasingly complicated when they are chased by the gangster friends (led by Bradley Cooper) that Charlie was trying to leave behind.

At the film’s press day, Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how the movie came about, when they realized that it was actually a romantic car chase movie, translating their love for each other to the big screen, and how sincere the characters are no matter how outrageous the situations. Shepard also talked about his next directorial effort, Send Lawyers, Guns and Money, which he hopes to shoot next year, and what fans can expect from the upcoming season of his hit NBC drama series Parenthood, while Bell talked about what a dream come true it is to do the voice work and original songs for the Disney animated feature Frozen, as well as how excited she is to return to her Showtime comedy series House of Lies. Check out what they had to say after the jump.

New concept art for Disney’s upcoming princess movie, Frozen, has leaked online.  For those unfamiliar with the film, Kristen Bell voices a young dreamer named Anna who teams up with “a daring mountain man” to find the Snow Queen (Idina Menzel) and put an end to a spell that has trapped their kingdom in eternal winter.  Broadway vets Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Winnie the Pooh) tapped to pen original songs for the feature.  Chris Buck (Tarzan) is onboard as director.  I’m glad Disney has another animated musical up their sleeve, but it will be computer-animated, so it looks like the studio has gotten skittish when it comes to 2D because The Princess and the Frog and Winnie the Pooh underperformed at the box office.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  Frozen opens November 2013.

Walt Disney Studios has made an official announcement regarding their new animated feature Frozen, and along with it comes the first full synopsis.  The film was actually borne out of the long development of The Snow Queen, which was put on hold in 2010 due to story issues.  The pic came back with a new title and a November 2013 release date, and now Disney has confirmed a voice cast consisting of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, with Broadway vets Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Winnie the Pooh) tapped to pen original songs for the feature.

Bell voices a young dreamer named Anna who teams up with “a daring mountain man” to find the Snow Queen (Menzel) and put an end to a spell that has trapped their kingdom in eternal winter.  Chris Buck (Tarzan) is onboard as director, and the fairy tale-esque story combined with the addition of two talented songwriters hints that Frozen may harken back to Disney’s earlier animated films.  Hit the jump to read the full press release, which includes the synopsis.

bits of news about some highly anticipated projects. First up, and to the surprise of no one, the studio confirms that The Avengers will be in 3D. This was already assumed, given that all of Marvel’s recent movies have been post-converted to the format. In other Marvel news, the studio has shifted an untitled project from June 2014 to April 4th, 2014, a month before the opening of another untitled Marvel project that’s scheduled for May 16th.

The nature of the untitled Marvel projects is currently unknown. They could include a Captain America or The Avengers sequel, but the studio is also working on spinoffs for Hawkeye, Black Widow, and S.H.I.E.L.D. so those are other possibilities as well. Hopefully the studio will announce their full development slate soon, but for now it looks like this: The Avengers in May 2012, Iron Man 3 in May 2013, Thor 2 in November 2013, Untitled Marvel 1 in April 2014, and Untitled Marvel 2 in May 2014. Hit the jump for info on Pixar’s now-titled movie about dinosaurs.  [Update: It appears Frozen is the new title of The Snow Queen and has nothing to do with Pixar. More after the jump.]

The simple concept, well executed: Something of a holy grail for the indie auteur and something that Adam Green (Hatchet) managed to pull off with Frozen.

Too-handsome Dan (Kevin Zegers), his too-sweet-and-innocent girlfriend Parker (Emma Bell) and lifelong/douchey best friend Joe (Shawn Ashmore – who played Iceman in the X-Men movies (and whom you can go ahead and make your own jokes regarding that)) are low on cash and visiting a rundown New England ski resort.  Joe holds some resentment toward the new couple but that certainly won’t be the focus of character drama later, so don’t worry about it. The handsome/douchey guys convince Parker to get them onto the ski lift for free and, through a surprisingly plausible series of events, the trio end up trapped on the ski lift in the dead of night, fifty feet in the air and with the ski lodge closed for the next five days.

Oh, and there are wolves.  So, they’re fucked. Hit the jump for more:

Opening this Friday, in limited release, is writer/director Adam Green’s Frozen.  The film is about three friends that get stranded on a ski lift on a Sunday night.  Since this particular park is closed on weekdays (it’s a New England thing), the friends are forced to make life-or-death decisions while freezing on the lift.  If you’re someone that’s afraid of ski lifts, Frozen will only add fuel to the fire.  The movie played at this year’s BNAT in Austin and at last week’s Sundance Film Festival to very enthusiastic crowds.  I saw a screening and thought it was great.  While the film is limited in locations, the real world aspect and the feeling that what you’re watching could actually happen will freak you out. Definitely recommended.

Anyhow, last week I got to speak with the man behind the movie, Adam Green, and we had an awesome conversation about not only his film, but why Hollywood is obsessed with remakes and what really goes on behind the scenes on a movie set.  Of course we also talked about making Frozen, what’s up with Hatchet 2 (which sounds awesome), and how he put in references to Papa Gino’s and Newbury Comics in Frozen.  If you’re not from the New England area, they’re very popular local franchises.   Hit the jump to check out the interview.  It’s a great one:

Opening this Friday, in limited release, is writer/director Adam Green’s Frozen.  The film is about three friends that get stranded on a ski lift late Sunday night.  Since this particular park is closed on weekdays (it’s a New England thing), the friends are forced to make life-or-death decisions while freezing high in the air.  If you’re someone that’s afraid of ski lifts, Frozen will only add fuel to the fire.

The movie played at this year’s BNAT in Austin and at last week’s Sundance Film Festival to very enthusiastic crowds.  I saw a screening and thought it was great.  While the film is limited in locations, the real world aspect and the feeling that what you’re watching could actually happen will definitely freak you out.  Definitely recommended.

Anyway, last week I was able to speak with Shawn Ashmore as he plays one of the three friends trapped on the ski lift.  We talked about being at Sundance, making Frozen, his next movie Mother’s Day, and he explains that he has a twin brother that also acts…so he wasn’t on Smallville!  Watch the interview after the jump:

A trailer for Frozen, a Sundance 2010 “Park City at Midnight” selection, has just been released. The film follows three skiers that are stranded on a chairlift who are “forced to make life-or-death choices that prove more perilous than staying put and freezing to death.” Frozen was scripted and helmed by Adam Green, (writer/director of Hatchet) and stars Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell, and Kevin Zegers as the three skiers.

The film looks as though it could be an interesting exercise in minimalist horror, and I am curious to see the other “life-or-death” choices referenced in the plot synopsis. Frozen was recently screened at Aint It Cool’s Butt-Numb-A-Thon to a positive reaction, including high praise from Harry Knowles himself, who is quoted in the trailer saying, “Scary and intense. I loved it.”   You can also check out the one-sheet and stills we posted here. Check out the trailer after the jump and look for Frozen in theaters February 5, 2010.