The sequel to Disney’s popular franchise had the biggest opening ever for an animation in the UK

Frozen 2 has grossed a massive £15.1m over the weekend, breaking the previous record held by Toy Story 4 (£13.3m), which was produced by Disney as well.

Taking $350m (£277m) globally over the weekend, the second instalment of Elsa and co. also broke the record for the highest-grossing weekend ever for an animated film.

Disney’s president of theatrical distribution, Cathleen Taff said in response to the films’ success: “We are definitely thrilled. It’s not easy to follow up the original Frozen.”

“We are cautiously optimistic the film will continue to have legs.” She believes that with the upcoming holidays they are going to have a “good run.”

Six years ago, the original Frozen was screened in 508 locations across the UK and grossed £43.1m in total – becoming the ninth-highest-grossing animation in the UK during its screening time. Comparatively, Frozen 2 was shown in 671 locations, averaging £22.504 per location – an indication that the franchise has grown into a pop culture phenomenon.

Operation Manager at Empire Cinemas, Balazs A. told Raven News: “There were a lot more people than usual. Every show there were at least 2-3 children dressed up as Elsa.”

When asked about whether he could have predicted the record-breaking success of Frozen 2 based on his experience, he said that “everyone was expecting it. People are not coming because of the movie – they are coming because it’s Frozen.”

“It’s because of the song, the merchandise and the princesses, it is after all, a typical Disney movie,” he said. Balazs personal opinion about Frozen 2 is that it is “way better than the first one”.

This time Disney took a more mature approach to the story as it follows the sisters Elsa and Anna on a journey away from Arendelle to an ancient forest to discover the origins of Elsa’s power.

The record seems even more impressive when taking in the factor that 18 new features were released in the same week in the UK.

The list includes STX Entertainment’s 21 Bridges starring Chadwick Boseman and Paramount’s Blue Story, which made £1.3m despite being removed from all Vue venues on Sunday, both making it into the top five of last week’s box office results.

Rank Film  (Distributor) Three-day gross (Nov 22-24) Total gross to date  Week
1 Frozen II (Disney) £15.1m £15.1m 1
Last Christmas (Universal) £2.2m £6.7m 2
3 Blue Story (Paramount) £1.3m £1.3m 1
Le Mans ’66 (Disney) £1.2m £4.2m 2
5 21 Bridges (STX) £655,000 £655,000 1

Source: ScreenDaily

The original Frozen became the highest-grossing animation ever ($1.276 billion / £989m) despite having only earned £4.8m in the UK during its opening weekend. With such a strong start, Disney will be aiming to break even more records with Frozen 2.