Publications
Partners
New York - If you have children, or know someone who does, or just listened to one recently, the choice of Associated Press Entertainer of the Year won't come as much of a shock: It's Frozen, and in 2014, we just couldn't let it go.
Although the animated film opened late in 2013, the story of Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven easily outpaced other vote-getters like Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, TV guru Shonda Rimes, musicians Beyoncé and Pharrell Williams, and even an entry for the culture's fixation on the female rear.
In 47 ballots submitted by members and subscribers of the AP, Frozen won 12 votes. Taylor Swift had 8. Matthew McConaughey and Jimmy Fallon were tied for third with 7 votes each. Voters were asked to consider who had the most influence on entertainment and culture in 2014.
Frozen has earned Disney more than $1.27bn at the box office worldwide, becoming the most successful animated movie of all time.
Its signature song, Let It Go, won an Oscar, and a national touring live version on ice has been a huge draw. The lines of girls wearing sparkly dresses waiting for a chance to see Elsa and Anna at Disneyland are staggering.
Frozen was the most searched movie in 2014, according to Google.
"It's amazing," said Chris Buck, who co-directed and co-wrote the film with Jennifer Lee. "A year later, it's still crazy."
Asked if they had managed to get their heads around the film's popularity, Lee replied: "I don't know if it's possible. I kind of hope it's not possible because this is a really great feeling."
Check out the trailer of the film, Frozen:
The film's gravitational pull has now supplanted Barbie as No. 1 on the holiday wish lists of girls, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation. Barbie had been the queen for 11 years in a row, but felt a chill this year from the kingdom of Arendelle.
The Oscar-winning story about how the sisters Anna and Elsa overcome Elsa's terrible power to turn everything into ice and snow has songs by the husband-and-wife songwriting team Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. It features the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad and Santino Fontana.
One Entertainer of the Year voter said the film had layers of magic: Frozen has become nearly unavoidable. Before seeing the movie, I knew the names of each main character as well as the theme song. But it's more than that.
Sisterhood is something so important to little girls whether they are an only child or have 10 siblings," wrote Jill Harry of The Derrick and The News-Herald of Oil City, Pennsylvania.
"The movie takes that theme, that feeling and perfectly matches it with the magic Disney is known to produce. The end result is a movie that has become an obsession. And now snowflake blue is the new black."
While the nation fell hard for the film, one famous actor was positively tongue-tied. John Travolta butchered the pronunciation of Menzel's name at the Oscar ceremony. What came out was something that sounded like "Adele Dazeem," but it only helped Menzel sell more tickets to her Broadway show If/Then.
Frozen now becomes the eighth AP Entertainer of the Year. Past titleholders include Jennifer Lawrence, Adele, Lady Gaga, Tina Fey, Betty White, Taylor Swift and Stephen Colbert.
