'Coco' screenings remove aggravating 'Frozen' short from the film

FROZEN -When the newly crowned Queen Elsa accidentally uses her power to turn things into ice to curse her home in infinite winter, her sister, Anna, teams up with a mountain man, his playful reindeer, and a snowman to change the weather condition. (Disney) ANNA, ELSA (© 2013 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.)

While Disney’s “Coco” remains a hit at the box office, those going to see it after December 8 will be relieved to know that Disney is getting rid of the much-griped-about short film that plays in theaters beforehand.

According to Mashable, Disney has directed theaters that are playing Pixar’s “Coco” to stop showing the short “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure,” a spinoff of the hit 2013 Disney animated film “Frozen.” While it’s not uncommon for Pixar movies to begin with a short film unrelated to the story, those films are usually no longer than 10 minutes and are a homegrown Pixar creation. “Olaf” however, is 22 minutes long and many have complained that it’s an elaborate ad for “Frozen 2,” which is set to release in November 2019. As a result, those who paid to see “Coco” were upset to learn that the feature didn’t begin until 40 minutes into its allotted runtime.

In its note to theaters, Disney politely suggested that theaters try to fit in another screening of “Coco” each day now that 22 minutes has been shaved off its runtime after the short and trailers.

While it may seem that Disney is making the choice in response to a backlash from fans, the studio is maintaining that this was always the plan. The studio told Entertainment Weekly that it always advertised “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” as a limited run, destined to end on December 8 no matter what.

“This was always promoted as a limited run so it’s not really a story — the end of our Olaf theatrical play is coming next week,” a Disney representative told the outlet. “All our ads and messaging called it as such.”

Despite the aggravation some experienced when seeing “Coco,” it’s maintained the top grossing movie at the box office the past two weeks amid a low studio output during the holiday season. “Coco” topped both “Justice League” and “Thor: Ragnarok” over the weekend.