《冰雪奇缘》重塑迪斯尼魔法?

Frozen is melting Disney CEO and Chairman Iger’s heart not just because of the cold， hard， cash it’s generating but also because the success of the film appears to show that Disney Animation Studios is finally， finally back in the groove.

The tale of two estranged sister princesses who must come together to de-ice their homeland， Frozen racked up the big numbers. It was the No. 1 all-time Disney animation debut， and won the Oscar for best animated film at the 86th Academy Awards； it’s the No. 1 album on both Amazon and iTunes.

Frozen also has what Disney （DIS） calls “franchise” potential， which means that its characters and themes will translate across the company to everything from toys to theme park rides to interactive characters. It’s a big deal， because there are only a relative handful of franchise brands at Disney.

In the Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg heyday between 1984 and 1994， Disney Animation rolled out one musical blockbuster after another. There was The Little Mermaid， The Lion King， Beauty and the Beast， and many others. And then the pixie dust dried up. For years， the offerings were listless and underperformed. Morale dropped and talent departed as companies like Dreamworks and Pixar took the lead in animation.

And so， starting seven years ago， two of Pixar’s co-founders， John Lasseter and Ed Catmull， began to split their time between Pixar and Walt Disney Animation， in hopes of rekindling that Disney magic. Rather than trying to graft Pixar’s thriving culture onto Disney’s struggling one， they determined that the goal was to resurrect what had made Disney so special in the first place―the technically audacious， yet magical， fairy tale.

They did import one key Pixar attribute： They put the director， rather than the studio chief or the animation head， in charge of the story. Unlike many studios， Pixar lets the director determine the arc of the narrative. Technology is used in service of the story-telling rather than as its starting point. It began to catch hold with Tangled （2010） and Wreck-it-Ralph （2012）， each of which outperformed financial and critical expectations.

Then came Frozen， based loosely on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen， an idea that had kicked around Disney since the 1940s. Lasseter， whose first job was at Disney Animation， remembered a series of paintings of a frozen world and dug them out of storage when he came back. “I never forgot those paintings，” he says. “They were so incredibly beautiful.”

Frozen’s impact goes far beyond the movie theater， making it a key example of the synergy Iger has become known for during his Disney tenure. Anna and Elsa， the lead characters in the movie， have already become top-selling toys， as has Olaf the snowman， and a Frozen attraction at Disney’s theme parks would be another logical step. Its music， written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez， is a natural for Broadway. For example， the movie’s songs， such as Let It Go， and Do You Want To Build A Snowman？ have become the soundtrack to our lives.

What this means for morale， says Iger， is harder to quantify， but also important. Disney Animation is no longer the frumpy second fiddle to Pixar. “I was very lucky that I came into an environment where the number one creative process is the story，” Lee says. Although the impact of one film won’t rock Disney’s gargantuan bottom line， animation is， and will always be， the emotional core of the business. Says Iger： “If you think long term about what Disney is and the success and the vitality of the brand， this is a very， very important event.”

《冰雪奇缘》正在融化迪斯尼公司首席执行官兼董事长伊格尔的内心，不仅仅是因为它正在生成冷冰冰、硬邦邦的钞票，还因为这部影片的成功似乎表明，迪斯尼动画工作室终于重新回到了巅峰。

《冰雪奇缘》讲述了两位疏远的公主姐妹历经艰辛团聚在一起，最终为她们的家园解除冰封的故事。这部电影创造了一系列重要的数字：它是有史以来首映周票房最高的动画电影，并获得了第86届奥斯卡最佳动画长片奖；它是亚马逊网站和iTunes商店销量最高的电影专辑。

此外，《冰雪奇缘》还具备迪斯尼公司所称的“特许经营”潜力。它意味着，这部电影的人物和主题将经由这家公司的各个部门，最终转化为数不胜数的产品，从玩具到主题公园、游乐设施，再到互动角色，不一而足。这是一笔庞大的买卖，因为迪斯尼公司目前只有为数不多的特许经营品牌。

1984年至1994年之间，也就是迈克尔・艾斯纳和杰弗里・卡森伯格执掌迪士尼动画的鼎盛时期，这家公司推出了一部又一部令人叹为观止的音乐剧。其中，最耳熟能详的当属《小美人鱼》《狮子王》和《美女与野兽》。随后，精灵之尘终于枯竭。多年来，这家工作室的作品总是无精打采。随着梦工厂和皮克斯等公司强势崛起，后来居上，迪斯尼动画的士气愈发消沉，人才纷纷出走。

于是，从7年前开始，皮克斯公司的两位联合创始人约翰・拉塞特和埃德・卡特莫尔便着手分配他们在迪斯尼动画和皮克斯的工作时间，以期重新激发潜伏在迪斯尼动画身上的那股魔力。他们不是尝试着将皮克斯公司蒸蒸日上的文化移入陷于困境的迪斯尼动画，而是确定了另一个目标：重振起初让迪斯尼动画如此独特的事物――在技术上大胆突破，充满奇幻的童话故事。

迪斯尼动画的确引入了皮克斯的一项关键特色：他们让导演而不是工作室高管或动画主管负责整个故事。不同于许多动画工作室，皮克斯让导演决定叙事的弧线。技术被用来服务于故事叙述，而不是充当电影的出发点。2010年和2012年相继推出的《魔发奇缘》和《无敌破坏王》让迪斯尼动画尝到了甜头，这两部电影的票房收入和评论反响均超出了预期。

随后，迪斯尼动画工作室推出根据安徒生童话《冰雪女王》改编而成的《冰雪奇缘》。其实，早在上世纪40年代，迪士尼公司就萌生了这个想法。当初拉塞特（他首份工作就就职于迪斯尼）回到迪斯尼动画工作室的时候，他依然记得那一系列描绘冰冻世界的画作，并从储藏室中把它们重新挖掘出来。“我从来没有忘记那些画，”他说，“那些画面堪称美轮美奂，简直令人难以置信。”

《冰雪奇缘》的影响力范围远远超出电影院，从而使其成为伊格尔执掌迪斯尼动画期间赖以成名的协同效应的一个重要例证。这部电影的主角安娜和艾莎，以及雪人奥拉夫已经成为最畅销的玩具，在迪斯尼主题公园开发《冰雪奇缘》景观将是另一个合乎逻辑的步骤。出自罗伯特・洛佩兹和克里斯汀・安德森・洛佩兹之手的电影音乐也非常适合在百老汇演出。这部电影的歌曲，比如《随它去》和《你想堆雪人吗？》，已经成为我们日常生活的背景乐。

伊格尔说，这部电影对员工士气的带动作用很难量化，但非常重要。迪斯尼动画再也不是老气横秋、屈居皮克斯之下的二等公民。珍妮弗・李说：“让我倍感幸运的是，我来到了一个把故事摆在创作过程首位的环境之中。”尽管一部电影的影响还无法撼动迪斯尼公司庞大的营收根基，但动画片毕竟是并且将永远是这家娱乐业巨头的情感核心。伊格尔说：“如果以长远的眼光来考虑迪斯尼公司的本质，以及这一品牌的成功和活力问题，那么这就是一个极其重要的事件。”