The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice

Production started with the first official poster premiering at 2015 Cannes Film Festival.[6] The picture, made in collaboration with Beijing's Flame Node Entertainment, would have been the first Chinese-Russian co-production in film history, but only Russian animation company Wizart Animation was credited with the production of the movie.[4] Scriptwriters were Aleksey Tsitsilin, Vladimir Nikolaev, Aleksey Zamyslov, and Andrey Korenkov. Robert Lence, an animator and story writer, who has previously served as one of the Beauty and the Beast, A Bug’s Life, and Home on the Range writers for studios Walt Disney Studio, Pixar, and DreamWorks consulted with the script writing team.[7] From initial snippets to the final version, about 53 variants of the plot development were written.[8]

Director Aleksey Tsitsilin remarked Robert Lence's expertise in adapting the screenplay for the international audience. Robert Lence gave a positive feedback to the movie. Lence says, "I’m really charmed with wonderful world of the Trolls that the authors have created. It brings a unique story to the animated film. ‘Snow Queen’ is a good message for kids – importance of families and friends combined with humor and fun. The characters realize how they really need each other, the true value of being a family."[7]

The writers used the theme of adventure as a focal point of the plot. The artifact Wishing Stone will be the motif that drives the plot. The ancient artifact is depicted as a wish fulfillment object despite its side effects of unprecedented environmental change.[9] When the characters wrest the Wishing Stone from its pedestal, climatic fire effects occur. This episode parallels media references to the many adventure suspense films of the 1900s such as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.[10][11] How the characters investigate the stone's history in catacombs and libraries to restore balance, adds the movie into the historical fantasy category. The protagonists become fairy tale archaeologists.[12] The writers also developed the message of kinship and family values.[13]

The Russian voice cast included Nataliya Bystrova as Gerda. Orm was voiced by Diomid Vinogradov, Nikolay Bystrov voiced Kai, Filipp Lebedev voiced Rollan, and Olga Zubkova voiced Alfida. The English cast included Laurie Hymes as Gerda, Billy Bob Thompson as Orm, Jason Griffith as Kai, and Graham Halstead as Rollan.[14]

The work of the screenplay started two years ago before the announcement of the film and after going through over 50 changes, it was completed only in 183 days. The most difficult part of the script writing experience was the episode where Gerda receives the Wishing Stone.[14] During the American Film Market in November 2015, Wizart presented new materials for Fire and Ice.[15] There, they introduced a new character Rollan, a Spanish boy who is a collector of legends.[16] At the AFM, Polish company Kino Świat(pl) committed for a wide release in Poland.[17] On 7 June 2016, the teaser for the movie was released.[18] About one month before the theatrical release, the trailer was released.[19][5]

The animators continued their craft and artistry in CGI animation to bring to life The Snow Queen. They introduced a new character Rollan. Artists went to Spain for inspiration. Over 300 sketches of streets, buildings, and the coast were made. However, the Scandinavian landscape from the original series is still present.[20] For visualization, a 3D model was made in the center of the Voronezh-based animation studio. Designs of the panorama in the City of Trolls was inspired by a very specific place on the Scandinavian Peninsula, the Ringedalsvatnet. There the iconic Norwegian rock formation Troll Tongue rock (Trolltunga) was chosen as a template for the movie sets.[20] A Gérardmer review stated, "the Trolls are a beautiful invention, a chimera between Rabbits and Moomins."[21] The animation required 18 hours of 2D animation. For 3D, the animators rendered about 55,000 images, far more than 5,000 images required for The Snow Queen 2. The animation in terms of numbers included the depiction of around 1,342 original trees and 350 variations of the wardrobe of the three main human characters.[20]

Animators introduced a new villain - the Fire King, a spider volcano which required the most effort in design. Other sophisticated designs included the underground lava chamber in Lake Gao. Before animation, the movie filmed the cues from the voice actor's expression that served as a guide for later production.[20] During the preparation of the animated film, five hours of acting were recorded. The emotions of the performers were based on the principles pioneered by social psychologist Paul Ekman. The juxtaposition of fire and ice was developed as a theme for the movie. To design animated lava, specialists drew inspiration from over 23 hours of lava video.[22][8]

A typical frame of the cartoon consists of 40-50 working layers on which the light is exposed. The backgrounds and characters are correctly highlighted so that the color of the picture is transmitted to the viewer with maximum saturation. Lake Gao in comparison required over 250 layers.[22][8] Ice special effects such as the avalanche episode required in-depth memory. One second of the working video of an avalanche, after gluing all the frames and "collecting" all layers with light, required 10 gigabytes.[8] The characters, the pirates of Alfida were bought back from the sequel. The entire team of pirates were used to full capacity. The character Snow Queen would be developed with humor and the weasel Luta would resume the animated gags.[11]

The original score was composed by Fabrizio Mancinelli who had worked on a number of projects such as Disney's Growing up with Nine Old Men (directed by Ted Thomas).[23] The composer noted the score for the movie is one of his best works to date. The theme song was discovered by exploring a whistling tune during production.[24] The music for the soundtrack was recorded by Budapest Scoring under the direction of Peter Pejtsik. The lyrics were written by singer, songwriter, and guitarist Johnny Dav who has previously composed the music for TV series A Matter of Honor and Family Business.[25] The Russian actress of musicals, Natalia Bystrova the winner of “Musical Heart of Theater” performed the main song “Fire and Ice."[26][27] Drew Ryniewicz finalist for X-Factor season 1 also gave voice to the feature track.[28] The Korean band WJSN / COSMIC GIRLS gave voice to the main theme song rendered for the South Korean audience.[29] Starship Entertainment employed singers Yoo Yeon-jung and DaWon(ko) to create the album: The Snow Queen 3 : Fire & Ice OST (눈의 여왕 3 - 눈과 불의 마법 대결 OST).[30] Singer-songwriter Eve Ottino sung the theme song "Le feu et la glace" for the French release.[21]

On 29 December 2016 the film was shown for the first time all across Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States simultaneously.[31] The trequel had a wide release in Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, South Korea, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Cypress, the UAE, and Turkey just in time for the New Year holiday.[32][14] It is also the biggest Russian animation of the year screening in just about every movie theater in the country.[14] Blitz released the third installment in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania.[33]

On 1 January 2017 Wizart organized a special screening on the oldest Russian Antarctic station named Mirny. The Russian Antarctic Expedition (RAE) members received a special cargo of New Year cards along with the DVD of the movie.The members of the expedition were one of the first people to see the animated movie and share their impressions from it.[34][35]

International sales manager Anna Pokorskaya handled foreign negotiations that gave the movie a global trajectory. Pokorskaya remarked, despite a small budget, the film was warmly received by distributors.[36] In January 2017, the movie was released in South Korea with over 450 screens.[29] Later the movie was presented to the European audience. Wizart concluded a deal with Universal Pictures Video France for distribution across France and the French-speaking territories in Europe and Africa.[33] It was the first Russian animated feature ever released in French-speaking territories.[24] Just before the release the film in France, it was nominated for out of competition selection at the Festival de Gérardmer in 2018.[37] The franchise then headed to Portugal through Cinemundo and Indonesia through PT.Satuvisi Abadi (Onevision Entertainment).[38]

After widespread release in over fifty Europe and Asian markets, the movie premiered globally across Oceania, the Americas, and Africa. In 2017 distributor Odin’s Eye released the movie in Australia and New Zealand.[33] The film released in Latin American territories after California Films picked up the distribution rights.[39] In August 2018, the film theatrically released in ten US cities via Vertical Entertainment. The animation will be the second Russian release in the US distribution of movies in 2018 after Dislike film.[40][24]

The movie was distributed by Cinémas Guzzo for Canada in 2018. Japanese company the Klockworx Co., Ltd.(ja) agreed to distribute the movie in 2018.[41][42] The movie released in South Africa, as well as neighboring nations Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho. Indigenous Film Distribution handled the release for those countries, having previously partnered on the first two Snow Queen films.[43] The animation made its debut in China on 5 April 2018 as the release coincided with the national Qinming Festival.[44][45] The distributor was Turbo Films.[46] In total the fantasy adventure has been sold to over 150 countries.[43] Rai TV in Italy agreed to air The Snow Queen series, including The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice.[47][48]

The winter family adventure film was an animation blockbuster. The initial budget estimates of 360 million rubles (~$5.6M USD) was the most expensive animation movie of 2016 in Russia as well for any of the other Wizart's productions.[49] After release of the film to domestic and international screens, the movie set records in Russia (CIS). In total in Russia the film took in $5.14 million from 1,170 cinema screens.[50]

Wizart Animation announced that as of 8 Aprill 2017, Russian Animation Day, The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice became the highest-grossing Russian film in foreign box office. The third installment, added $26,000 from just thirteen Canadian cinemas to its earnings, bringing its worldwide total (excluding Russia) to $20.28 million. The previous overseas box office record for a Russian film was Mongol (2007), a co-production of Russia, Germany and Kazakhstan which brought in $20.27 million outside Russia.[51][52] In South Korea, the movie attained the status of the best start of independent animation in 2017 with a collection of $2.39 million.[53]

According to the Press Service of Wizart Animation, preliminary results from five weeks in Bulgaria, demonstrated the film had the best start among independent animation studios in the last twenty years as it entered the top-10 box-office hits.[54] It became a leader of the box-office in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as it released in 215 film theaters. The box-office resulted in 144 thousand euros. As noted by representatives of distribution company Cinemart, “these are the best numbers in the history of screenings of all the parts of the franchise in Czechia and Slovakia in the premier weekend."[55] The movie demonstrated great success in Turkey. Released on 24 February 2017, within 253 theatrical screens, the movie attracted more viewers than its prequels.[56]

The Voronezh cartoon became the biggest-selling Russian box-office hit in China earning $11.55 million (CN¥66.77M yuan) and slightly pulling ahead of World War II blockbuster Stalingrad (2013). The opening was $2.74 million (a record for Russian animation).[57] Following the results of the first weekend starting from 5 April 2018, the third part of The Snow Queen took the third place in the top of the Chinese box-office.[58][59] Due to the popular demand, the theatrical run of the Snow Queen 3 was officially extended by Chinese film regulators. The film stayed in the theaters until June 2018, coinciding with the National Children's Day. As a comparison, an average theatrical release in China generally lasts for about a month.[60] Adding the overseas performance, the movie had a total gross of $24.6 million.[61] The profit was four times the budget (rubles). Together with the rental in Russia, the cartoon earned about $30 million.[62]

The film received 3 stars from Common Sense Media. The critical review noted the film's representation of a positive role model and positive messages. The reviewer noted, "The characters learn the importance of standing by and protecting your family."[63] The feature-length film from Rotten Tomatoes had an approval rating of 95% within 125 audience ratings.[64]

Russian reviews were positive toward the film. A critical review by Makzim Markov gave the movie 4 stars.[65] Critical review by Film.ru commended, "An interesting and beautiful Russian fairy-tale cartoon comedy in which Gerda finds the magic of the Snow Queen. If the main Russian animated series on the domestic market is by St. Petersburg studio's "Melnitsa", then the best series for the foreign market is Snow Queen by the Voronezh studio Wizart Animation. This is a real extravaganza of bright colors and spectacular designs."[12] Critical review at Izvestia remarked, "In the new film, children will again laugh at the Troll Orm, and their parents will be touched by the joy of their children."[66]

Maria Tereschenko of Kino-Teatr found the movie excellent in its presentation of family values by stating, "Snow Queen 3 continues the theme of 'family values' and loyalty to loved ones stated in the first two episodes. This is another story about how the heart of each of us can become a battleground of good and evil, and only the love of loved ones can save the heroes from rash actions or disastrous consequences." The film props deserve recognition as they were interesting too: "The creators pay attention to the costumes of the main characters, of which a lot was made for the film (indeed, Gerda's snow dress is beautiful), but even more, perhaps, the peculiar vehicles that appear in this franchise are striking. A beautiful carriage, a ship that rides on ice, a beautiful ice train... and at the hottest moment, Kai has to jump on ice floes floating in hot lava…"[67]

The movie received positive critical review from Mironova Anastasia of New Look Media who said: "An extremely positive and life-affirming cartoon, imbued with a mortal instructive sense of fighting evil and injustice, despite everything, teaches you to fight only with good deeds and deeds, never using evil and negativity in return. Decorated with incendiary and eccentric, but at the same time very kind and cute computer tricks created for the characteristics of each character, makes the cartoon "Fire and Ice" even more comical and exciting."[68]

KinoKultura reviewed that: "It is strikingly beautiful. Wizart Studios started out making video games and a game based on this film is already available. As a result of this gaming background, Snow Queen is made in 3-D and it is gorgeous. The fire scenes are especially effective. Rollan with his burning hair and glowing suit is striking, as is Lake Gao, the forbidden lake of fire which Gerda and Rollan must cross. The fire-tossing scenes are vivid as are the scenes where Gerda makes ice formations. "[10]

French reviews such as Avoir-Alire noted: "It is a fantastic tale for young and old, staged in a world where trolls and humans come together. The characters are warm, endearing, and evolve in visually more complete settings than in the previous two opuses: the snowy landscapes, the small wooden houses where trolls live, the bluish night, recall the beautiful landscapes of Russia, but also of Northern Europe. The animation is also quite successful, enjoying a sharper graphics, less digital appearance, less artificial and therefore more authentic. The movements of the characters are fluid and well detailed. In short, the overall aesthetic is quite pleasant."[13] Le Parisien remarked, "But the little ones will soon find their mark within the merry band of characters and their adventures in the Far North, more faithful to the original story than Frozen. Inevitably, we can't help but play the game of the seven differences, starting with those between the heroes, with here an evil Snow Queen and there the nice Elsa. There are trolls, a frozen kingdom, and values - love, friendship, fidelity, courage - advocated in both films. And the Russian version also has its heady little song, "Fire and Ice".[69]

German reviews were positive toward the film with one review from Film-Rezensionen saying aside from the "lack of continuity therefore remains a weak point of the series", overall Wizart is improving and setting precedents with each new installment.[70] Moviebreak only highlighted one weakness of the movie which was "its quite erratic narrative style and in some places a lack of character depth." Other than that the movie is a perfect entertainer stating, "the film by director Aleksey Tsitsilin offers excellent entertainment. The action is good, the characters are humorous and the story, despite its jumpiness, is exciting and breathtaking. This along with a fabulously staged fantasy world, allows the film to be fun for young and old."[71]

Sofahelden commended the movie is an apt continuation from the prequel: "The plot is an equally fitting sequel to the previous story as well as an independent, exciting, and adventurous journey that knows how to please, even if you don't know the previous parts."[72]

With the success of the film, the trilogy cemented itself as a popular animation franchise. A fourth installment, The Snow Queen: Mirrorlands, was released on 21 December 2018 in Poland and on 1 January 2019 in Russia.[80] The movie then traveled to UK and Ireland on 7 August 2020.[81] The film will be packaged to the continent of North America on 18 December 2020.[82] The movie was well received by critics noting its innovative plot. They also remarked the studio Wizart itself is continuing to develop their craftsmanship. Today The Snow Queen animated tetralogy series has managed to be released to over 150 countries and has been translated into 30 languages.[43][83]