Why "Frozen 2" Could Easily Reach $1.5 Billion at the Box Office

Frozen 2 was announced at Disney's latest shareholder meeting, Credit: Walt Disney Co.

It's official. Frozen 2 is happening, and millions upon millions of kids around the world are shivering with joy.

The announcement came at The Walt Disney Company's recent annual shareholder meeting. And though Disney hasn't confirmed an official date for the sequel yet (some are speculating 2018), it's no surprise investors pushed shares of the entertainment juggernaut to all-time highs following the news.

After settinga new box office record with the biggest-everThanksgiving weekend launchin 2013, the first Frozenwent on to gross an incredible $1.27 billion worldwide, including an impressive $873.5 million in foreign markets. That made Frozen the highest-grossing animated film of all time, and the fifth biggest-movie overall behind only Avatar, Titanic, Marvel's The Avengers, and the final installment of the Harry Potter franchise.

But that begs the question: How high can itclimb?

I think Frozen 2 will have no problem exceeding $1.5 billion in box office revenue worldwide -- a feat accomplished to date by onlyAvatar,Titanic, and The Avengers. Here's why:

History is on its sideOf course, we can't exactly gauge Walt Disney Animation Studios' track record with modern CGI sequels, becauseFrozen 2will be its first.But we should keep in mind thatWalt Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter holds the same positionat Disney animation studio Pixar, which has plenty of encouraging sequel data on its side.

TakeMonsters University, for example, whose $743.6 million global box office haul represented a 41% increase from the $529.8 million achieved by its predecessor,Monsters, Inc.Asimilar increase overFrozenwould putFrozen 2at roughly $1.8 billion.

Or takeToy Story 2, which reached $485 million in box office receipts, compared to "just" $362 million from the firstToy Storyfilm. Even this more modest 34% improvement would putFrozen 2at over $1.7 billion worldwide.

EvenCars 2 would work, having "only" built upon Cars' success by increasing global ticket sales 21.2% to $559.9 million. If Frozen 2 follows suit, it would mean a massive $1.54 billion at the global box office.

Disney's hype machine has already startedArguably no company knows better how to spur public excitement for its films than Disney. As it turns out, Disney has already started hyping Frozen 2 in the form of its new Frozen Fever short, which can only be viewed in theaters by picking up a ticket to its freshly launched live-action rendition of Cinderella.

In fact, Disney began whetting Frozen fans' appetites well ahead of its sequel announcement by posting this Frozen Fever preview last month:

As Frozen 2's development progresses, you can bet Disney will have prospective audiences thoroughly primed to watch the film by the time it debuts.

Key creative figures are back for moreSpeaking of development, here's what Lasseter had to say at the initial announcement:

Lee and Buck were the co-directors of the first Frozen film. It's little surprise they'd be eager to return. But their creative perspective and talents are crucial to repeating the experience that led audiences to give Frozen a rare A+ CinemaScore.That virtually guaranteed Frozen would enjoy sustained success due to word-of-mouth and repeat viewings -- something evidenced by the fact that it won the weekend box officea full six weekends into its theatrical run, and remained in the top five for its first 12 weeks on the big screen.

Finally, Frozen's composer, Christophe Beck, returned to write the score for Frozen Fever, and Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez -- still coasting high on the heels of their Oscar for Let It Go-- penned a new song for the short, titled Making Today a Perfect Day. Its worth noting, however, that none of the three haveconfirmed their official return for Frozen 2 just yet. But the Lopezes have openly tweeted about both Frozen Fever and Frozen 2, and their continued involvement in the franchise at this point seems all but inevitable given its past success.

In the end, if all these pieces fall into place, Frozen 2 should have little trouble eclipsing $1.5 billion at the box office.Combined with the subsequent onslaught ofFrozenmerchandise and other supplementary revenue streams,Frozen 2will create yet another massive windfall for Disney and its investors.

The article Why "Frozen 2" Could Easily Reach $1.5 Billion at the Box Office originally appeared on Fool.com.

Steve Symington has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of Walt Disney. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.