Disney never realized the biggest key to Frozen’s success: two female leads

polygon.com:

It’s been 10 years since Frozen ignited Disney’s modern revival era and got “Let it Go” permanently stuck in millions of heads. But even after a decade, it seems that Disney has never really figured out what made Frozen and its sequel such a cultural phenomenon. Was it the infectious music? The villainous twist? The magical powers? The subversion of “true love”? Subsequent Disney animated films have tried to replicate these elements, but none of them have really achieved the sheer magnitude of Frozen’s impact on culture, let alone its $1.3 billion box office success (or the sequel’s $1.4 billion).

So what was it?

Frozen’s magic is owed to one incredibly simple choice. One that’s missing from previous Disney movies, and one that the studio still hasn’t quite figured out: Frozen starred two female heroes.

Not just two female characters, but two female leads whose relationship was key to the plot and who both had equal development in the story, even if they weren’t on screen together most of the time. No Disney movie before Frozen had hit that mark, and very few afterwards have even attempted, let alone managed, to get it right. It’s no surprise that the generation of young girls who grew up with the Disney Princess brand naturally sparked to a movie with two female heroes, and I’m firmly convinced that’s what turned Frozen into the cultural behemoth that it is.

As it turns out, young girls really just want to see girls interacting on screen together. Disney, take notes.

The Disney Princess brand is huge. It’s one of the first things many people associate with Disney, even if they haven’t watched one of the movies since childhood. But for whatever reason, Disney has long missed the mark on the appeal of the princesses and