Cocoopened to rave reviews and the coveted number one spot at the box office last week, and continues its number one reign this weekend. While the Pixar movie has been a hit, theFrozen 22-minute shorthas caused some outrage from moviegoers who were not happy to sit through 22 minutes ofOlaf’s Frozen Adventureafter 20 minutes of previews to finally get to seeCoco. The Disney short was also unwelcome because it was not the usual Pixar short that would play before one of their movies, so it was pretty much doomed to begin with and the length really did not help its cause. A new report reveals thatOlaf’s Frozen Adventurewill no longer play in front ofCoco, starting next week.
A Reddit user claiming to work for a movie theater shared a note that the theater received from Disney asking that the theater stopsOlaf’s Frozen Adventurefrom playing starting Friday, December 8th. The letter that Disney reportedly sent asked the theater to stop and that in lieu of the extra time that the theater will receive, that they add an extra showing ofCocoto the schedule. It isn’t clear if theFrozen shortwas intended to be a limited release or if Disney is bowing to the mostly negative reaction that the short has received. The note reads.
“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.
TheFrozenshort has been problematic for many reasons, but the length is the biggest offender for most. One father commented that he brought his kids to seeCocoand revealed that he and his kids weren’t sure if they were in the right movie. Other movie theater workers observedpeople getting aggressiveduring the “short” and letting out groans of “finally” when the short ended. The additional wait time is definitely not optimal for parents bringing in young children to sit through nearly two-and-a-half hours of material, including theCocoruntime. That’s a lot of additional material to sit through for kids expecting to see a story about music and family set to the backdrop of Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos.
Cococo-director and writer Adrian Molina called the addition of the short as a “bit of anexperiment,” which has failed miserably. It seems like the two stories would work together sinceCocois about family traditions whileOlaf’s Frozen Adventurehas the snowman searching for traditions, but the story was originally supposed to be a TV special and not a short in front of a feature length movie. When asked about the “short’s” run time, Molina said, “It is longer than, I think, any other short that has ever been attached to one of these films, so I’ve heard that that has taken people by surprise.”
For those of you on the fence about bringing young children to go seeCoco, it seems that next weekend will be the time to do so whenOlaf’s Frozen Adventureis removed. It isn’t clear if Disney or Pixar will be replacing the short with an actual short movie beforeCoco, but it would seem logical that they will. You can read more about the letter from Disney as well as some humorous reactions to the removal viaReddit.
