With the new release of frozen 2, I thought it might be fitting to do an article on the official Disney princesses. Frozen 2 premiered on November 22nd in the UK and so far feedback/ reception of the movie has been nothing less than astounding from critics and fans alike with a total gross of $143,034,370 only 5 days after release!

There are currently 12 official Disney princesses which are: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Merida, Rapunzel, Moana. Considering I decided to write this article due to the release of frozen 2, I was shocked to find the main protagonists- Anna and Elsa- aren’t considered official Disney princesses. As a result, I decided to do some further research to find out what the requirements a character must meet to be considered an official Disney princess:

  1. The character must be human or human alike
  2. The character must have a primary role in a Disney or Pixar movie 
  3. The character’s first appearance cannot be in a sequel
  4. The character should be born royal, married royal, or has performed an act of heroism 
  5. The character's film should be a box office success that is neither underwhelming nor overwhelming, and/or have a cultural impact

These were the requirement set by Disney for a character to be considered a Disney princess. Characters like:

  • Nala from the lion king isn’t considered a Disney princess because she is not human
  • Melody (the little mermaid’s daughter) isn’t considered a Disney princess because she was introduced in a sequel- the little mermaid 2

But how have these requirements prevented Anna and Elsa from being considered Disney princesses? Well, some argue Elsa isn’t considered a Disney princess because she’s the Queen of Arendelle so she is simply not considered a Disney princess for that reason. Another theory alludes to Anna not being a Disney princess because she doesn’t have an animal companion; Olaf is created by and belongs to Elsa and Sven is Kristoff’s Companion. Though some people take these as valid reasons for the sisters not being considered actual Disney princesses neither are the actual reason for their exclusion. 

In actuality, Anna and Elsa aren’t considered Disney princesses due to the success of frozen. Anna and Elsa were both originally planned to be part of the lineup until it was a huge success at the box office at 1.2 billion worldwide. Frozen ended up spawning its own franchise. Disney feared if they added the two to the line-up regardless of their movie's success, Elsa and Anna would become so valuable they’d take all sales away from the other 12 princesses, overshadowing them due to the popularity of their film and also by outnumbering sales of the princesses. However, they have official affiliations with the Disney Princesses and the Frozen franchise is considered one of the largest affiliations with the Disney Princess franchise.

By: Naomi Eboreime