The Walt Disney Company has produced some of the most beloved films of all time, and their animated princess movies in particular, feature some of the most influential characters ever created.
We all have our favourite Disney princesses, and while Jasmine is the only right answer, for many younger fans it's Elsa, from Frozen (2013). For good reason too, upon release Frozen took over the world, and today it's by far Disney's most popular animated princess movie.
Which makes it surprising when you learn that Elsa and Anna aren't official Disney Princesses.
And the reason why, has everything to do with marketing and money.
Understanding the Disney Princess brand
The term ‘Disney Princess’ doesn't simply refer to any princess featured in a Disney film. It’s an official title given to a select group of characters and a lucrative media franchise.
The Disney Princess brand was created in 2001 by a man named Andy Mooney. The then newly appointed head of Disney Consumer Products, had inherited a flailing division with sales declining by up to 30% per year.
At a show of Disney on Ice, Mooney witnessed dozens of young girls dressed as princesses, yet none of it was official Disney merchandise. Identifying considerable demand for products they hadn't even produced yet; Mooney created the official Disney Princess line.
Disney Princess was going to be collective of the most popular heroines from Disney's classic films, to merchandise everything from colouring books to full costumes. Anything young girls desired to realise their princess fantasies.
Prior to the Princess Line, Disney had never marketed individual characters outside of the promotional materials for their films, let alone grouped characters from separate titles.
Disney Princess however, is its own franchise which exists outside of the 'mythologies' of the films that each princess is from.
This is why some princesses in the franchise look very different to their film counterparts.
Aurora wears a blue dress for most of Sleeping Beauty (1959), yet in the Princess Line is always seen in pink.
This is to distinguish her from Cinderella, who is also blonde and wears a blue dress, an issue that obviously wasn’t considered during Sleeping Beauty's release back in 1959.
Obviously, Disney Princess was a huge success, from 2001 – 2006 revenue grew from $300 million to $3 billion. As of 2021, the brand has generated over $46 billion in sales and is the sixth most valuable media franchise worldwide.
How to become a Disney Princess
With the financial stakes and the massive influence of the Princess brand, Disney is highly selective as to who is granted membership into the elite club. As of 2022, there are just 12 characters who hold the prestigious title of Disney Princess.
So it's hard to become an official princess, but what exactly are the requirements? And yes, there are multiple.
To begin with, you must first meet all the following criteria:
Have a primary role in a Disney animated film
Be human or human-like (looking at you Ariel...)
Not be introduced in a sequel film
Once you pass those, you must then meet one of the following criteria:
Born royal
Marry royal
Perform a significant act of heroism (pretty much created for Mulan)
The final and ‘unspoken’ criteria is box office success – What? Money? How shocking…
What exactly constitutes box office success is up to the Disney executives. However, if they deem a film to have underperformed financially, a character is unlikely to become an official princess. As it means they didn’t resonate audiences and likely won’t sell very well.
This final hurdle is likely why Princess Kida, from Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), is not in the official princess lineup. Who? Exactly!
While she does meet all the criteria, her film bombed at the box office. Atlantis earned just $186 million worldwide.
For comparison, Cinderella (1950) has a lifetime earnings of $182 million (not adjusted for inflation), and it was released back in 1950!
Frozen and the Disney Princess brand
Which brings us back to Frozen...
Elsa and Anna both meet the first two sets of criteria. They star in an original Disney animated film and are born royal as princesses of Arendelle.
Frozen also earned an insane $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office. It became the highest grossing animated feature of all time, until it was surpassed by Frozen 2 in 2019.
For context, Moana (2016) is the highest grossing film featuring one of the official 12 princesses. It brought in $643 million worldwide, that's just half of Frozen.
Frozen didn’t just become Disney’s most popular animated princess movie. At its peak it was the fifth highest grossing film of all time.
Well? Yes. The goal of the Disney Princess brand is to elevate each member beyond their individual films. The franchise does this by leveraging the success of the slightly more popular princesses to uplift the others, producing a cohesive and highly profitable franchise.
It’s very much a case of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
For Disney Princess to work however, each member must first have a solid base level of 'organic popularity', to contribute to and grow the brand (so no box office bombs!). But, not have so much success to where they overshadow their fellow princesses.
Which is exactly the case of Frozen, Elsa and Anna simply sell far too well on their own. Consumers are willing to pay just as much for Frozen merchandise as they are for Disney Princess, and clearly far more to see Frozen movies.
From a marketing perspective incorporating Elsa and Anna into the Disney Princess franchise would just dilute and weaken the Frozen brand. A brand that in the eight years since its inception, has generated over $14 billion in sales, all on its own (as of 2021).
Thus, the pair exist in their own separate Frozen franchise, although they do often appear alongside their fellow princesses. As seen on the official website and their iconic cameo in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).
Nonetheless, Elsa and Anna are still not official Disney Princesses.
Written by Karthik Dasari
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