About a third of you just stopped reading and went 'WHAT?!' so I'll include a handy screnshot here from Frozen.
The same third are still freaking out and thinking that's somebody's photoshop job, so I will wait... go ahead, grab your copy of Frozen - don't bother pretending there isn't at least one in the house - and check out Anna singing 'For the First Time in Forever'.
Okay, now you either believe me or you knew about this already so I'll get to the point - just how innocent is this little half-second appearance? Not very, in my opinion. It's a tiny little signal of what's to come - it's Disney's version of Iron Man sitting in a bar talking about the Avengers Initiative in the second Hulk movie, in fact. Oh, and about superheros, it's how Disney plan to compete with Fox, Sony and WB over them. Compete, I hear you ask? Chris, that's idiotic. Disney aren't worried about competing with superhero movies! Their movies are TOTALLY DIFFERENT.
Yes, the genre is different - but don't kid yourself. Everybody is competing with superhero movies these days, because they're so insanely, incredibly profitable. Don't believe me? Have a guess what the most financially successful series is at the box office. It's bigger than Harry Potter, Bond, LoTR, Star Wars, yes, and even Twilight. (Don't laugh - Twilight is in the top ten of highest-grossing movie series!) Yup, that would be the MCU, better known to less rabid fans as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or what the various Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and pretty much any other Marvel hit you can think of belong to.
So anyway, before we loose ourselves further in Marvel-related ramblings, back to my Disney theory. Why put Flynn and Rapunzel in Frozen? A fun cameo? Well yes, but stick with me. It's the started of a cohesive shared universe Disney will build. If you're a bit of a Disney Nut, I mean, fan, you're probably aware of the main Disney Theory or at least you know that there have been Easter eggs and cameos by many Disney characters, but that was then, and this is now, and nothing is without a reason.
After watching Tangled tonight, James and I nailed down my theory - that Disney will, after a few more future films, conclude the recent hits with a mash-up movie featuring all the heros we love. James's specific thought is that the princesses are all going to be kidnapped and the princes have to work together to rescue them, and he's pegging Maleficent as the ultimate bad guy. Which I certainly think would explain the extreme marketing job Disney poured into a fairly mediocre movie. But even if it's not the traditional 'rescue the princess' type of deal, you can bet this WILL go somewhere. Watch this space!
