An audience backlash has forced Disney to remove the 21-minute short Olaf’s Frozen Adventure that precedes the studio’s latest animated movie Coco in theatres, according to a Mashable report.
Coco, produced by the Disney company Pixar, is a coming-of-age story set against the Mexican Day of the Dead tradition. Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, which features the goofy snowman from Disney’s 2013 global blockbuster Frozen, was played before Coco in theatres, in keeping with Pixar’s practice of attaching short films to its releases. Some of these films have been critically acclaimed, including Partly Cloudy and La Luna.
However, the duration of the Olaf short has drawn severe criticism. “Length is the biggest issue, of course, since the actual movie doesn’t start until 40 minutes after the advertised time, between trailers, ads, and Olaf,” Mashable reported. “That’s a lot of extra sitting around for an audience comprised primarily of kids expecting a story about music and family, set against the backdrop of Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos. Some have also accused Disney of shameless self-promotion, for swapping in what is seen as an ad for Frozen 2 — which is out in Nov. 2019 — where there would usually be a Pixar creation.”
Disney has not confirmed that it will be pulling out Olaf’s Frozen Adventure from December 8. However, a Reddit user claimed that the studio released the statement: ‘Please note that the run of Olaf’s Frozen Adventure playing before COCO will end after 12/7. Starting on Friday 12/8 no more Olaf shorts should be up on screen. With the extra 22 minutes of running time back, we would appreciate if you could get in an extra show if possible.”
