With her time just beginning as Chief Creative Officer for the Walt Disney Company, Jennifer Lee won’t have the time to helm Frozen 3.
The filmmaker behind both entries will step away for the next installment but did not name a replacement. Lee recently spoke to The Wrap at this year’s Annecy Animation Festival and broke the news.
The filmmaker reveals: “I can’t say where we are [with Frozen 3.] All our stories are driven by the artists in the studio. Where we’re going with Frozen did not come from me. It came from an incredible person. That’s a new piece; I’ve told no one. And I’ve been blown away by it, and I’m just having a blast with that team.”
Lee notes, “I’m doing what I do with all the other projects. It’s really fun on Frozen…cause we’ve lived the world for a while together, and a lot of the artists in the studio grew up with that film, too, both of them and have been there the whole way…They kinda own them as much as anyone else.”
Given her new executive role, Lee says she still wants to get behind the camera soon enough. “I would love to direct again,” she said. “I know someday I want to be a filmmaker again. I’m old, but I’m not that old! I’ve only done two films, and I do believe there’s a time — I’ll know it — but there’s a time when you give everything you can, and then you make room for innovation of the next person. I can’t imagine anywhere but Disney.”
It was announced in February this year that Disney was moving forward with a third Frozen alongside Toy Story and Zootopia sequels. There’s no release date for Frozen 3 at the time of writing.
