Frozen II's Waves Teaser, released February 2019 in the United States, drew 116.4 million views in 24 hours, setting a record for animated-film trailers.
ARCHIVEFrozen II Waves Teaser Redefined Animated Film Marketing in 2019
The "Waves (Teaser)" is a single-asset film teaser produced by The Hive and Walt Disney Studios for Frozen II, released in the United States on February 13, 2019, nine months ahead of the film's November 22, 2019 theatrical debut, opening with a wordless sequence of Elsa battling an ocean to establish tone and scale without revealing plot.
The campaign carried one deliberate objective: to signal to audiences in the United States that Frozen II would depart from the warmth of its predecessor and venture into something more elemental and emotionally complex. Rather than introducing new characters or confirming story details, the teaser withheld almost all narrative information, trusting the image of Elsa — voiced by Idina Menzel — charging repeatedly into crashing waves to communicate both character and thematic ambition. That restraint, applied to one of the most recognisable animated properties in the world, was itself a strategic statement. Directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, who helmed the original Frozen, returned for the sequel, and their involvement was cited as a continuity signal reinforcing audience confidence. The returning voice cast — Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff, and Josh Gad — was confirmed through the teaser's credits, grounding familiarity even as the imagery pushed toward the unfamiliar. Produced under the creative direction of Ann Mugglebee and Josh Dunn, with editing by Steve Harris, the teaser was archived on Clapboard.com as a single media asset in the Movies category under the Media and Entertainment classification. Frozen II eventually generated approximately one point four five billion dollars worldwide, according to Wikipedia, making it the second-highest-grossing animated release of 2019, behind The Lion King. The Waves Teaser, arriving nearly ten months before that commercial result, was the first public proof that Disney believed the sequel could carry that weight.
Disney released the Waves Teaser on February 13, 2019, positioning it against a competitive animated release calendar in the United States. The decision to launch a teaser nearly nine months before the theatrical date reflects a studio-wide practice of anchoring franchise anticipation early, particularly when the intellectual property carries the recognition of Frozen. In the United States, the original Frozen had become a cultural benchmark — its music, characters, and merchandise defining a generation of family entertainment — which meant that any sequel announcement carried inherent audience scrutiny alongside inherited goodwill.
The competitive landscape in 2019 was defined primarily by two other Disney-adjacent properties. The Lion King, also distributed by Disney, ultimately outgrossed Frozen II among animated releases that year, according to Wikipedia, while DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World opened in February 2019, the same month the Waves Teaser debuted, providing direct competition for family audiences at the start of the theatrical year. Against that backdrop, the choice to release a teaser emphasising atmosphere over narrative served a specific strategic function: it established Frozen II as a more serious artistic proposition than a routine franchise sequel, differentiating it from event-driven spectacles that front-loaded plot reveals in their early marketing. According to CNBC, the teaser received approximately 116.4 million views within its first 24 hours, a figure reported at the time as a record for an animated-film trailer. That number, achieved without a plot synopsis or a new song, demonstrated that audience investment in the Frozen universe was strong enough in the United States to sustain pure tonal marketing — a strategic insight that shaped every subsequent piece of campaign communication.
The Waves Teaser relies on a single unbroken visual conceit: Elsa, in a transformed costume, running across a darkened coastline and attempting to overcome a series of enormous waves. No dialogue is spoken for the majority of the teaser's runtime. The creative direction was handled by Ann Mugglebee and Josh Dunn, with Josh Dunn and Maxine Park serving as producers and Steve Harris credited as editor, according to Ads of the World. The Hive produced the teaser in collaboration with Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.
The animation itself draws on the established visual language of the Frozen franchise while deliberately darkening its palette. Where the original film was defined by ice blues and bright snowscapes, the Waves Teaser introduces slate greys, deep ocean greens, and atmospheric low light — chromatic signals that function as wordless genre cues, telling audiences that the sequel will operate in a more mythological register. The waves themselves are rendered with a physical force uncommon in animated marketing at this scale, and the repeated failure of Elsa to cross them — she is thrown back each time before finally making progress — constructs a micro-narrative of determination without any expository assistance. The editing by Steve Harris amplifies this rhythm, cutting each wave sequence with increasing urgency before releasing tension in the teaser's closing frames. The musical choice, a slowed and distorted version of a motif familiar to Frozen audiences, completes the tonal pivot. Production credits for The Hive's wider team on this campaign are not fully publicly documented beyond the names confirmed by Ads of the World and archived on Clapboard.com.
ARCHIVENo independently verified trade-press performance review for the Waves Teaser is publicly available from Campaign, Ad Age, Adweek, The Drum, or Contagious. No verified awards entry was found across Cannes Lions, the Effies, The One Show, D&AD, the Clios, the Webby Awards, or WARC Awards, according to research conducted for this analysis.
The most concrete performance indicator on record is the view count. According to CNBC, the teaser accumulated approximately 116.4 million views within its first 24 hours of release in the United States, a figure reported at the time as a record for an animated-film trailer. That single data point is structurally significant: it suggests that the decision to withhold narrative information and lead with tone alone did not suppress audience engagement but accelerated it. The teaser's minimalism appears to have functioned as an invitation rather than a barrier, prompting audiences to seek meaning in imagery rather than waiting to receive it from dialogue or title cards.
Frozen II's eventual worldwide gross of approximately one point four five billion dollars, according to Wikipedia, cannot be attributed solely to the Waves Teaser, which was one asset in a multi-phase campaign that included two further trailers released via Good Morning America in June and September 2019, as reported by Ads of the World. The teaser's contribution is best understood as foundational: it established the emotional and aesthetic terms on which all subsequent campaign communication was built. The Waves Teaser holds a Clapboard Score of 78 out of 100, reflecting strong creative craft and measurable early impact against the absence of independent industry recognition.
The Waves Teaser is a single-asset film teaser for Frozen II, released in the United States on February 13, 2019. Produced by The Hive and Walt Disney Studios, it features Elsa attempting to cross a vast ocean and debuted nine months before the film's November 22, 2019 theatrical release, according to Clapboard.com.
The Frozen II Waves Teaser received approximately 116.4 million views within its first 24 hours of release, according to CNBC. That figure was reported at the time as a record for an animated-film trailer and was achieved without plot reveals, relying entirely on atmosphere and character imagery to drive audience engagement in the United States.
The Waves Teaser was produced by The Hive in collaboration with Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. Creative directors Ann Mugglebee and Josh Dunn led the campaign, with Josh Dunn and Maxine Park serving as producers and Steve Harris as editor, according to Ads of the World. Film directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck returned for Frozen II itself.
The Frozen II Waves Teaser holds a Clapboard Score of 78 out of 100, as recorded on Clapboard.com. The score reflects strong creative craft and the teaser's measurable early audience impact, balanced against the absence of verified entry or recognition across major industry awards including Cannes Lions, D&AD, and the Clios.
The Waves Teaser was the opening asset in a sequenced campaign. Disney followed it with a second trailer on Good Morning America on June 11, 2019, and a third on September 23, 2019, according to Ads of the World. The teaser's tonal restraint established the emotional framework that all subsequent Frozen II campaign materials built upon across the United States.
No verified awards for the Frozen II Waves Teaser were found across Cannes Lions, the Effies, The One Show, D&AD, the Clios, the Webby Awards, or WARC Awards, according to research compiled for this analysis. No trade-press reviews from Campaign, Ad Age, or Adweek covering the teaser as a piece of advertising craft are publicly documented.
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